Welcome to Synertech's RFID & Barcoding Website
RFID or Radio Frequency Identification and Bar-coding Automation is the core of
our business.
Whether it is:
- Weigh Bridge Automation, WBMS.
- Yard, Truck, Warehouse Management System, YTWMS
- Parking Garage Automation
- Time and Attendance
- or ANY other RFID project that you were thinking of
- Mobile Solutions like Proof of delivery (POD), Sales Delivery & Merchandising (SDM), Skypay®, (a Real-time Wireless Credit Card transaction solution) or do you want to develop your own wireless WAN by using the powerful development WWAN TOOLKIT.
- RFID has become one of the most versatile emerging technologies in recent years. It offers a cost effective way of closing the loop within systems, where previously this was only possible through human intervention.
Synertech (Pty) Ltd places a high priority on your success. We therefore place a high priority on designing systems that you want and need. We also strive for continuous innovation and improvement so that can we deliver the best possible quality systems to you. Our technology partners offers us great stepping blocks to your solution.
What is RFID
An RFID system typically includes the following components:
- A tag or label that is embedded with a single chip computer and an antenna. The antenna can be printed on the tag with carbon-based inks. The tag is an extension of the bar code labels you see in stores today, but with more intelligence.
- A radio (much like a wireless LAN radio) that communicates with the tag. “Passive” tags, the type of tags commonly used in retail supply chain systems, pick up enough energy from the radio to operate and to communicate back to the radio. “Active” tags have an embedded battery and offer the advantage of longer-range communications.
Various types of tags and labels are available for use in different environmental conditions. Radios, often referred to as “interrogators”, can be either fixed-position or portable, just like bar code scanners.
An RFID system's “read range” — the distance a tag must be from the interrogator in order to read the information stored on its computer chip — varies from a few centimetres to tens of meters, depending on frequency used, whether a tag is active or passive, and how directional the antenna is on the interrogator.
ADVANTAGES OF RFID
Unlike bar code-based tracking systems, an RFID system can read the information on a tag without requiring line of sight and without the need for a particular orientation. That means RFID systems can be largely automated, reducing the need for manual scanning.
In addition, RFID tags hold much more data than UPC labels. The tag can be programmed to hold information such as an item's serial number, colour, size, manufacture date and current price, as well as a list of all distribution points the item touched before arriving at a store. Some RFID systems allow companies to write information to the tag and store it there; the RFID tag then essentially acts as a portable, dynamic database. Other systems allow the information contained on the tag to be edited, added to or locked, capabilities that are particularly valuable when dealing with high-end inventory tracking and other applications when complete, up to date information (such as current pricing) is of particular benefit.
Download our white paper: 1) White Papers - RFID in Retail
Other Applications
There are many applications for RFID within the supply chain operations of today's companies. Most of these applications require item management information for tracking goods from the component level, through manufacturing and on throughout the supply chain.
With today's market attitude of "I want it now" or "I need it now", the demand for improved supply chain visibility as well as the pressure to keep costs down is driving the need for a combination of bar code and RFID system in today's businesses.
Below is a general example of how RFID could provide full visibility through a company's supply chain:
An RFID tag is embedded in a component item. The item tag can then be read and written to during the manufacturing process in order to gather and exchange Work-in-Process data. That same tag could then be read or written to by shipping personnel at the manufacturer's shipping dock to release the original manufacturer's item from their inventory. Shipping information could then be written to the item tag by the transportation carrier as its transported from the manufacturing plant. That item could now be on its way to the end user, the next add on manufacturing site, or distribution centre with complete item, source, process, and ultimate destination information included. Upon arrival at any of these locations the item tracking information could be read automatically with a fixed or portable RFID interrogator.
Finally, that same individual item tag could be read and written to at the retail store level, providing the retailer with additional pricing, receipt date, inventory, and theft prevention information.
The following list includes Supply Chain applications where Intellitag RFID solutions are being used today:
Logistics: Item management for manufacturing
| Raw materials | Pallets/boxes |
| WIP tracking | Totes |
| Bulk containers | Finished Goods |
Retail: Item management plus EAS/POS
| Embedded price tags and labels | Smart electronic article surveillance (EAS) |
| Track items from dock door to counter | Automatic inventory control |
Transportation Management
| Electronic toll collection | Traffic management |
| Parking collection | Access control |
Industrial: Warehouse Shipping/Receiving Validation
| Automates both shipping and receiving | Sorting |
| Dock management | Picking and special handling |
| Floor inventory control |