Test shows RFID can help track compliance with labor standards

In the July issue of DC Velocity, we ran an article titled "Is RFID dead?" The answer, of course, was "Definitely not!" In fact, based on what we've seen lately, we can safely say that the technology is not just alive and well but is also being applied in new and interesting ways.

Take an experiment recently conducted by Queralt Inc., for example. The company, which develops cloud-based RFID, GPS, and sensor applications, says it successfully used RFID passive tags to track workers' movements within a manufacturing plant in real time.

For its test, Queralt gave a unique tag to each of 250 workers at the start of an eight-hour shift and collected the tags at the end of the workday. When employees passed through an established "choke point," a passive reader registered their start time. Another reader detected their arrival at their work stations, while others measured some of the workers' movements during their shift.

Does that evoke images of "Big Brother"? Never fear; the time and motion study was designed to show that RFID could be used to verify actual time worked as well as whether employers are in compliance with federal wage and hour rules, according to CEO Michael Queralt.