While most of my interest focuses on barcode scanning, RFID technology is quickly catching my attention as well – and it looks like I’m not alone. In fact, RFID is becoming increasingly popular for a variety of uses – like Airborne Honey’s use of RFID tracking to open its doors to their customers so they can have complete visibility into where their honey was collected, what kind of honey it is, and if the honey was counterfeited or not.
A while back, we pushed out an RFID infographic that discussed how beekeepers are utilizing the technology to track the health and theft (yes… it’s truly an issue in the world of beekeeping) of their hives. Airborne Honey’s use of RFID tracking looks like the next link in the chain.
When a customer scans a QR code on a jar of honey, they are brought to Airborne Honey’s tracking site to get a full analysis of that jar – where it came from, the glucose levels, how much pollen is in the honey, etc. This application’s visibility brings Airborne’s honey game to a whole new level.
While any printer can print a QR code for the jar labels, RFID printers, like the Zebra RZ Series, can help track the honey throughout the process. Heat damage is a large issue for honey makers like Airborne Honey. As honey gets collected in the field, printing an RFID label and attaching it to a batch crate can increase visibility internally to collect heat damage information to an entire batch. This way, if a batch exceeds the industry standard heat damage levels, Airborne Honey can catch the batch in its tracks before it gets jarred – saving time and resources while maintaining a higher level of visibility and control over their quality standards. This same RFID label can utilize the same data from the consumer’s end to see the HMF content (a natural substance in honey accumulated by heat levels) for their specific jar.
In a world where consumers want an open door policy with companies and companies want to maintain control of their operational costs, it looks like RFID can truly kill two birds with one stone. For an overview of RFID technology and more real-world applications, download our RFID: What It Is and Where It Can Take You whitepaper.
About the author:
Jason Shanley is L-Tron’s Content Creator & Creative Design Specialist and often writes about Zebra Technologies, mPOS, mobile computers, and 2D barcodes in retail. Jason believes everything can be fixed with tape and plays volleyball on Tuesdays. He can be reached at jason.shanley@L-Tron.com or (800) 830-9523 ext 115.