1. Mr. Renz, Tönnjes is a world market leader. How does the company stand out from its competitors?
What sets us apart is that we don't deliver out of Germany. There are exceptions. However, we usually go directly to the country and are able to set up a factory there on a greenfield site. With our agencies and joint venture companies we are represented worldwide. Tönnjes now includes 50 companies.
We produce 50 million license plates per year. Furthermore, we have managed to turn an analog product into a digital one.
2. How high is the share of products with RFID?
Products with RFID account for about 10 percent of our sales. That means we are still a long way from our target. However, we notice that there is a very strong push into the market. New projects almost always include the RFID component. You can already see the trend that the authorities are asking for RFID. On the one hand, it's about secure vehicle identification using RFID, but also about covering extended applications.
3. Where do the individual components of your products come from?
These are all products that we manufacture ourselves. Naturally, we also make use of technologies that are available on the market. One of these is the RFID chip from NXP. It contains a number that is unique worldwide. We then install this chip in components that we integrate into the license plate as a fixed component. Once it has been installed, it is impossible to steal the chip. If you do try, it self-destructs. It simply no longer works.
4. What about the windshield label?
Here, too, we use standard technologies. It's the same chip. However, antennas are used that are connected to the metallic surface of the holographic label. In this way, the entire label acts as an antenna. We do the same thing with the license plate, by the way. We use the aluminum surface as an antenna amplifier. Through the metal surface, the radio waves can be read very well, safely and cleanly. That's why it works so well.
5. How does the chip get into the license plate?
It is important to know: The chip is only the size of a pinhead or even smaller. You need a special machine to connect the chip to the primary antenna. Furthermore, the chip has to be encapsulated so that it also works when the license plate gets wet or dirty. We then integrate this encapsulation into our license plate. The finished blank then goes to the customer in this form. The customer takes it out of the box and personalizes it himself. The electronic packing lists are particularly important here.
6. What is the purpose of the electronic packing lists?
The moment a product is taken out of the box, it has to be debited. Otherwise, personalization doesn't work. There are defined steps that the employee has to carry out onsite. Only then can all three products, license plates for front and rear plus windshield label, be linked together in the database. This means you have three individual numbers that are assigned to the vehicle. This creates a fingerprint for the vehicle that can no longer be changed.
7. Is it possible that a carton disappears before it reaches the customer?
Not at all, as a matter of fact. Manipulations are as good as impossible. We use the same system when we install products on our premises. That means: When the chip is born, we get an electronic packing list from NXP. We always know exactly which chip goes in which box and on which pallet. The system works seamlessly.
8. What are the challenges posed by RFID technology?
You have to take a lot of things into account, of course, and have a good team of engineers who are experts in the field. This is a very special technology where many factors play a role. Over the years, however, we have perfected it to such an extent that it works wonderfully in the license plate and windshield label application.
9. Was the Cayman Islands a medium-sized or small project for Tönnjes?
A very small project. This has to do with the volumes. Moreover, there is only one place on-site for issuing and personalizing the tags or vignettes. So the production process is relatively simple. This is in stark contrast to IT, which is of course just as complex, regardless of whether the project is large or small. The process itself always has to be set up from scratch.
10. Is there an idea to include parking lots on the Cayman Islands?
Yes, there is. The DVDL has actually already implemented this idea. All official vehicles and employees of the public authority are recorded in the system. There is an antenna at the entrance to the parking lot. The barrier identifies the vehicle and automatically opens and closes. It can also capture who is in the vehicle. This is important because a whitelist is stored in the database.
11. A whitelist? What does that mean?
In our system, we distinguish between a whitelist and a blacklist. If a vehicle owner does not pay taxes, he ends up on the blacklist. The lists are updated daily, both for mobile devices and fixed devices. They also indicate where to look for the "black sheep".
12. You say it was a very small solution for Tönnjes. Nevertheless, what was the exciting thing about the Cayman Islands project?
A digital product is always exciting for us. The special thing was that the customer took our idea on board. Like us, they were convinced that the entire process – from the birth of the blank through production to output, to the end customer – could be mapped electronically. We knew that this would open up a wide range of possibilities.
13. Can you give an example?
The authorities can, for example, offer data transmission as a service to other companies. The DVDL now knows which vehicle has which identifier. They can develop their own business model from this. The Caymanians are actually thinking about this.
14. What can other countries learn from the Cayman Islands?
Just go and have a look at the system. Visitors are always welcome. After all, the DVDL is very proud of what they have achieved. In principle, any country can use our system. Once you start thinking digitally, RFID-based electronic vehicle management is a solution for every country.
We are out in many countries that have similar problems to the Cayman Islands. The investments are compensated very quickly by additional tax revenues. Even countries that have a good central database can use our system.