RFID revisited – Supply Chain Management Review

By Bob Trebilcock ·

February 17, 2020

RFID revisited
RFID is positioning itself as a foundation for an Internet of Things strategy.

I was around some 15 years ago when Walmart and the Department of Defense announced their RFID mandates. The plan back then was to put RFID tags on every carton and/or pallet coming into a distribution center to deliver a new level of visibility as well as efficiency. That was because RFID tags could be read automatically, rather than all those pesky, time-consuming handheld barcode scans. Heck, some supply chain executives were so enthralled with the technology that I heard one predict at a conference that in the not so distant future, RFID could lead to a cure for cancer. I was hard-pressed then, and now, to make the connection between automatically reading a carton of athletic socks and medical breakthroughs, but what do I know.

As we all know, it didn’t quite work out that way. The tags were pricey in comparison to a barcode label; barcode infrastructure was already in place and no one likes to rip and replace; and when it came to reading cartons on a pallet as they passed through a portal, RFID wasn’t as accurate as reading barcode labels.

But, RFID never went away. It just resurfaced in other applications. One of the leaders during the Walmart and DoD days was Impinj, which continues to move the technology forward. “The technology hasn’t gone quiet,” Gaylene Meyer, Impinj’s vice president of global marketing and communications argued, during a recent call. “It’s been growing in adoption in specific use cases, primarily in retail.” That is especially true in fast fashion. The difference in retail today from back in the day is that the use case is now tracking inventory inside the store rather than the DC. That, of course, isn’t the only use case for RFID, but it’s become an important driver of the market. 

She added that engineering has continued to innovate. Advancements include better readers and smaller tags that can be read faster and at further distances. Faster reads is enabling new use cases, such as the ability to discern if a tag is moving or has crossed a threshold. In cross-docking applications, where lots of pallets and cartons are moving all the time, RFID is being used to validate that the right pallet is going on the right truck.

To me, one of the real opportunities for RFID is part of the foundation for an Internet of Things strategy, given RFID’s ability to read products in transit. One application is how Delta Airlines is using RFID to track passenger bags. While not specifically a supply chain application, you can see how the technology could be applied for greater visibility and customer service. When your bag travels by conveyor into the cargo hold of a plane, Delta will automatically send you a text. And, when you go down to baggage claim at the end of your flight, you’ll get a text telling you on which conveyor you can pick up your bag. “Being able to track a bag through the system has given Delta new insights into their operations,” Meyer said. “Along with tracking your bag, they can see where things aren’t moving through the system. Longer term, that allows those kinds of issues.”

I’m not sure if now is RFID’s time in the broader supply chain, but I can see where the insights coming from a real time understanding of where inventory and assets are positioned and moving across the supply chain has real potential to improve processes and operations.

February 17, 2020

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