About those near field communication labels

It’s only occasionally that any of us see something that truly impresses. After all, so much that we once thought was beyond us proves to be commonplace. You can put Zoom calls halfway around the world into this category.

So, the other night I was on a Zoom with Saiko Sasha Okamoto of Aioi Systems. She was in Tokyo and I in Boston. Nothing amazing. Yet.

We were talking about AIOI’s smart card for labeling totes and rack locations. Then something amazing happened.

Okamoto took a picture of me with her smart phone from her computer screen. Using an app on the phone, she then downloaded my picture onto a smart card label in her hand. In less than a second, I was, literally, the face of that tote label.

Now, this isn’t magic. It’s real. Welcome to near field communications (NFC).

The label here is actually a battery-less RFID e-paper technology. It receives data from a writer (in the demo, Okamoto’s smart phone) and becomes the new label. It can have anything from a picture to a bar code to alpha numeric data. It just has to be an electronic image.

As Okamoto explained, NFC is the next generation of what you may know as an electronic shelf label (ESL). In all likelihood, you’ve seen it at a store or two.

With a battery-powered ESL, data is written electronically to the label material using Wi-Fi. It takes 30 seconds or longer to transfer any image, says Okamoto. And it can be done from a distance of several feet. Furthermore, data transmission can be unstable.

With NFC, data is transferred in less than a second. However, near field means it can only be transferred from a distance of 1 inch or less. Data transmission is highly stable.

Japanese-based pharma wholesaler Mediceo, like me, thought this was all pretty impressive. And today, the company has an automated storage and retrieval system (AS/RS) with 60,000 totes carrying these NFC labels.

Previously, the company used paper labels on the totes. So, every time they received a shipping order, they had to issue a new label and affix it to the tote. That involved peeling off the label, washing the area, printing a new label and applying it. There had to be a better way.

Today, the company downloads label data from its warehouse control system to a read/write station mounted on a conveyor line. As it runs, new labels are generated on demand electronically without so much as a pause in moving those totes.

Labels at Mediceo are read at a dedicated station, says Okamoto, and routed to the next step in their processing. And I thought putting my face on a label in Tokyo was impressive.

Turns out that NFC labels are much greener than paper labels and a whole lot more scalable. Okamoto tells me that each NFC label can be overwritten millions of times.

Not only does it cut the cost of inefficient labor and expenses related to labels, but it also contributes to the environment. The fact that it generates zero paper waste and produces zero carbon dioxide emissions makes it a breakthrough for the company, Okamoto added.

Sounds like near field communications may turn out to be a very long-term answer for some.