RFID - Six Years Later

October 8, 2009 from SupplyChainDigest – “About six years ago this week, the EPPglobal organization was launched. So, we’re going take that anniversary as a catalyst to look at both the history and the future of RFID. As many of you know, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) has been around for decades, and certainly was being deployed in both supply chains and other applications in the 1990s at some reasonable volumes...

In 1999, the MIT Auto-ID Center was born…The Auto-ID center vision was largely oriented on the consumer goods-to-retail supply chain. Parameters were developed for this more simple tag, which came to be known as the Electronic Product Code or EPC, with compelling visions for how this would transform the retail supply chain…

EPC activity in the consumer packaged goods arena, where it all started, is at a virtual standstill. The Walmart program is stalled, and its future uncertain…

On the positive side, EPC-based technology is being adopted in a large array of other types of applications, from aircraft manufacturing to an increasing number of distribution center applications, to asset tracking and more…”

180 View – There was a lot of hype when RFID was mandated by Walmart in 2003, and RFID seemed like the next big thing in technology. Conferences just on RFID were held to pave the way. But a funny thing happened along the way, and it was not the technology. There wasn’t a compelling business case for its adoption. But as the price of the RFID tags fall, that may change.