Enjoyrfid Technical

Will RFID overtake the barcode?
In some industries, RFID is a must-have technology. In retail, for example, it has taken the clothing industry by storm because the return on investment for that vertical is just so good: reducing stock-outs from double digits to less than one percent and taking store inventory counts from 90 hours to three, as examples. Wal-Mart and other mega-retailers are also driving RFID adoption, but for the great majority of retailers RFID hovers somewhere off in the future. So the short answer, according to two opinion leaders in Finland, is yes, RFID will eventually replace the barcode, but not quickly. Jorma Lalla, CEO of Nordic ID, a manufacturer of mobile data collection handsets, explains that the slow pace of adoption is not due the cost of tags: Early in the millennium, research institutes and universities forecasted a revolution in identification of goods within a few years. As we all know, he continues, this didnt happen. Thats because retailers had invested huge dollars in barcode technology. No ones going to reinvest just because theres a new technology available.

Benefits and standards: the driving forces of adoption
Like any technology, the more RFID is used, the more valuable it becomes. In an open supply chain environment, RFID can play a major role in tightening inventory and shipping logistics along the entire chain. Because tags can store item-level information from site and date of manufacture to stock keeping unit (SKU) to transportation and logistics information every item carries a complete, individual history of its journey from manufacture (or harvest) to sale. Taking it a step further, tags can have sensors built in to log moisture, temperature and other parameters over the course of their journey. And because of the robustness of RFID tags and the accuracy and ease of reading them, items can be scanned in bulk, while goods are still in boxes, greatly improving inventory awareness and timing. Security is also a plus, says Lalla. The FDA is having problems with counterfeit pharmaceuticals. RFID tags can have encryption built in an easy way to find the fakes. And if youre looking for a needle in a haystack, try high frequency RFID. Think libraries and music stores.