HONG KONG, 12 SEPTEMBER 2008 – The first Hong Kong RFID Awards have gone to Asia Airfreight Terminal, the Airport Authority Hong Kong, and Convergence Systems Limited, for their excellence in the field of electronic product tracking.
The awards went to a variety of winners from public utilities, logistics, apparel, to electronics and retail sectors in three categories, The Best EPC/RFID implementation, The Most Innovative Use of EPC/RFID and The Most Innovative EPC/RFID products.
GS1 Hong Kong, the organiser of the Hong Kong RFID Awards, was founded in 1989 as a not-for-profit industry support organisation committed to enhance Hong Kong enterprises’ competitiveness through the provision of global supply chain standards, best practices and enabling technologies. It is the only organisation that is authorized to issue and administer GS1 identification numbers in Hong Kong.
Award winners
Asia Airfreight Terminal won the gold award in the category of Best EPC/RFID Implementation Award for its Truck Control System. The winning control system manages truck activities, allocates truck docks and captures data on cargo delivery/collection service standard in AAT terminal for timely management decision.
Airport Authority Hong Kong won the gold award in the category of Most Innovative Use of EPC/ RFID for its RFID Baggage Handling System, which is an end-to-end RFID baggage handling system operating at Hong Kong International Airport.
Convergence Systems Limited won the gold award of Most Innovative EPC / RFID Product for its RFID Handheld Reader, A handheld reader which provides high read-range and read-rate performance and enables ultra fast inventory of cases on pallet, warehouse shelves, moving vehicles, and other tagged items in business processes.
Other Awards winners were China Light and Power, mi-tu, NEC Hong Kong, Esquel Group, Asia Airfreight Terminal, and Schmidt & Company (Hong Kong).
Industry leader judges
"The first Hong Kong RFID Awards 2008 scheme was designed to recognize significant achievements in the adoption of RFID technology. The level of creativity of the entries was very high and the judging panel including myself had a hard time choosing the final winners,” said Anna Lin, Chief Executive of GS1 Hong Kong.
The judging panel comprising voices from government and industry included Eddy Y.T. Chan, JP commissioner of Innovation and Technology Commission, Simon D. Langford, director of EPC Strategies, Wal-Mart Stores Inc, Anna Lin, chief executive of GS1 Hong Kong, Ian Robertson, global industry development director/Asia regional director of EPCglobal, Chung Jen Tan, chief executive officer of Logistics and Supply Chain Management R&D Centre, Anthony E. Tan, chief executive officer of Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks, Gerd Wolfram, managing director of advanced technologies, MGI METRO Group Information Technology GmbH.
According to Lin, better supply chain management is needed to improve responsiveness to customers’ needs as enterprises are becoming increasingly interconnected. “To turn these challenges into opportunities for growth, enterprises must equip themselves with the latest Supply Chain Management practices and technologies – specifically Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology,” she said.
