IBM claims notable benefits from its use of radio frequency identification (RFID) technology at its 300-millimeter semiconductor wafer processing plant in East Fishkill, N.Y. As one offshoot of that experience, the company has been working for more than a year with Philips Semiconductors, based in The Netherlands, in the development of a similar RFID-enabled automation system at a Philips chip making plant in Taiwan.
Last September, IBM took an added step to cash in on its RFID know-how, when the company launched a suite of RFID consulting services aimed at mid-sized industrial companies. Those services include RFID business-case development, technology proof of concept, internal pilots, trading partner pilots and full-system rollouts, the company says.
IBM sees opportunities for beneficial RFID deployment in industries including automotive, aerospace and defense, manufacturing, chemical and petroleum, and forest and paper, as well as electronics.
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