subject: over 200 workers are rapidly evacuated and instantly accounted for Traceability for a smarter planet [print this page] over 200 workers are rapidly evacuated and instantly accounted for Traceability for a smarter planet
On a snowy slope in Norway, a skier glides to the lift and goes right through the turnstile, without slowing to show a ticket. In a Danish suburb, a woman's blood pressure is monitored as she weeds her garden. And during a safety drill at a Canadian oil refinery, over 200 workers are rapidly evacuated and instantly accounted for.
What do all these scenarios have in common? Sensors, which help us instrument and interconnect our environments, creating real and actionable intelligence. Sensor devices come in a wide variety of forms, such as RFIDradio frequency identificationbarcodes and 3D tags. Their common purpose is to collect data that provides identification, location, or condition information that can be used to provide visibility to a new aspect of a business process.
PASSIVE RFID "What is it?"
A passive tag does not contain a battery; the power is supplied by the reader. When radio waves from the reader are encountered by a passive tag, the coiled antenna within the tag forms a magnetic field. ACTIVE RFID "Where is it?"
An active RFID tag is equipped with a battery that can be used as a partial or complete source of power for the tag's circuitry and antenna. Some active tags contain replaceable batteries for years of use; others are sealed units.
CONDITION SENSORS "How is it?"
Condition sensing tags not only have a battery, but also include circuitry that reads and transmits diagnostics back to its sensor system. The tags monitor the environmental conditions, communicate with other items and collaborate to collect data that no single sensor would be able to detect. The information is then fed into back-end systems using the network software.
Pharmaceutical track and trace
In 2010, the global sale of counterfeit drugs will reach $75 billion. That's a 92% increase in just five years, according to estimates from the Center for Medicines in the Public Interest. Today, many governments require supply chain participants to maintain chain-of-custody records that prove the origin and authenticity of each product.
Item-level serialization and track and trace capabilities enable better supply chain visibility which can raise the bar for counterfeiters and improve business performance. The IBM Solution for Pharmaceutical Track & Trace makes possible anti-counterfeiting regulatory compliance, diversion detection, automated chargeback resolution, safety stock reductions and accurate returns processing.
Food safety and traceability
A recent IBM survey of 1,000 consumers in the 10 largest cities nationwide shows they are increasingly wary of the safety of food purchased at grocery stores, and their confidence inand trust offood retailers, manufacturers and grocers is declining.
And in Thailand, chicken, seafood, fruit and vegetables are tagged with the farm of origin, date of harvest, temperature during shipping and more. This will enable the country to help ensure the freshness of food exported from Thailand upon its arrival in global markets and in turn, create a safer food supply chain for consumers.
