Food production couples up with RFID
couplings used in various food processing applications, is to use
RFID tagging across a range of its products. The company believes
that this will improve product identification and, therefore,
quality assurance and safety.
CPC designs connections and fittings - or couplings - that allow flexible tubing to be quickly and easily connected and disconnected. The implementation of radio frequency identification (RFID) is part of a strategic move for the company, which plans to produce tens of millions of tagged couplings over the next three years.
These Smart Couplings, as they are called, offer a number of benefits. The use of RFID will improve quality assurance, safety, and product identification in the transmission of liquids. This is because the tags enable identification of individual couplings and matching pairs, helping to ensure that they are connected correctly and that the appropriate liquids are being delivered through them.
A well-designed RFID system embedded within a fluid coupling can, therefore, ensure that non-authorised liquids do not enter containers in the filling plant or dispensing systems on the other end of the supply chain. The tags are read-write, do not require line-of-sight reading and can even be embedded within the couplings.
CPC's initial RFID-based coupling applications will be found in food and beverage dispensers and chemical cleaning devices, where effective quality assurance is essential to users' safety. In beverage dispensers, smart couplings can help ensure that correct amounts are dispensed, that sugared syrup is not used in drinks advertised as sugar-free, and that products can be monitored for freshness. In chemical handling, RFID tagging can ensure the correct type and sequencing of ingredients.
The RFID tags have been developed by Innovision R&T's, which claims to have reduced the cost of RFID technology to less than a fifth of the cost of previous tags. This has enabled CPC to install smart identification to virtually all of its fluid coupling requirements.
"Innovision R&T's RFID tags will provide us with new opportunities because of their low cost and reliability, giving us an even sharper competitive edge," said CPC smart technology business unit manager Rick Garber. "Earlier options of stick-on labels containing tags were not entirely reliable across our range of platforms because labels can sometimes become detached, or worse, the die can be damaged in certain applications.
"However, Innovision R&T's tags can be embedded in our existing couplings, eliminating these potential risks and enhancing both quality assurance and reliability."
The food processing industry is catching on to the many benefits of RFID tags, but adoption has often been inhibited by perceived cost.
"We have succeeded in reducing costs through its novel approaches to the design of both its tags and the wider RFID system," said Rob Kitchen, Innovision R&T's head of consumer sector development. "By developing a business model that gives clients access to our technology at very low cost, we are now enabling clients such as CPC to place themselves at the forefront of technology and take significant leads in their respective markets."
Another factor in the growing popularity of RFID technolgy is the fact that EU legislation on food traceability is coming into force in January 2005. The new legislation means that food traceability through the supply chain is going to become a legal responsibility.
Under the new laws, food producers must be able to identify products by batch, lot or consignment numbers and traceability of the product must be possible at all stages of production, processing and distribution. This means food businesses will have to be able to identify every supplier of food, feed, a food producing animal or any substance incorporated into their food/feed products.
