For the past four years, Julio Cesar Lestido S.A., the official Uruguayan importer of cars and trucks manufactured by the Volkswagen Group, has been employing passive ultrahigh-frequency RFID tags to track the metal tools it uses to maintain vehicles. The company says that it is now developing a plan to utilize the technology to record each vehicle's life history, including its date of import and sales information, as well as all maintenance provided.

SATO, which specializes in barcode printing, labeling and EPC/RFID solutions, has released the S84-ex and S86-ex print engines for case carton, pallet and individual product identification, and print and apply applications.

The North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) is deploying a radio frequency identification technology that enables its own laboratory testing of samples from job sites, as well as inspections of precast concrete materials at the sites of suppliers, to be captured and then managed electronically.

Motorola Solutions Inc. has introduced the Symbol TC70 touch computer.

Deere-Hitachi Construction Machinery Corp. is employing AeroScout Industrial Wi-Fi radio frequency identification tags to track the assembly of construction machinery at its facility in Kernersville, N.C.

Denso ADC has introduced a new Bluetooth 2D barcode scanner.

Equipment used at a West Australian open-pit iron mine is being managed across a 40-square-mile area via active radio frequency identification tags to identify where certain equipment is located, as well as control its operation.

U.K. retailer John Lewis is preparing to launch an RFID-enabled pilot at its flagship store in London by early next month that will allow shoppers to create an image of a specific chair or sofa with the fabric covering of their choice, using toy-size pieces of furniture and swatches of fabric.