Posted on 05/21/2006 9:35:29 AM PDT by Nachum
The roots of radio-frequency identification technology stretch at least as far back as World War II, when transponders helped distinguish between Axis and Allied aircraft. Over the years the concept has been greatly miniaturized, landing RFID technology in such settings as animal tags, toll-collection devices, passports, keyless entry systems for cars and wireless credit cards.
But perhaps none of these projects will have as much impact for consumers as the adoption of RFID in the supply chains of huge retail stores.
Mega-retailers led by Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) have gotten their biggest suppliers to add RFID chips to pallets and cases shipped to stores. Now, rather than having people with bar-code scanners walk around to take inventory, RFID readers in warehouses can automatically tally items on the fly.
RFID is expected to yield substantial savings largely by reducing the frequency of the following scenario: A customer goes to a store for an item, only to find its shelf empty, even though replacement stock lurks somewhere in the back. It's one of the costliest problems in retail.
Simon Langford, Wal-Mart's director of logistics, distribution and replenishment systems, explains that a bar-code scanner can register that certain items have entered a store's back room. But not until one of the items gets scanned at checkout does the store typically get an update. In between, the item might be on a store shelf or still sitting among back-room clutter.
In the more than 500 stores where Wal-Mart has integrated RFID, radio tags give additional insight - they inform employees when supplies enter the storeroom, when they leave it for the sales floor and when their emptied cartons are taken to the trash.
A University of Arkansas study last year determined that these stores saw a 16 percent reduction in the times that products were missing from shelves. But Langford said that figure understated RFID's true power, because the study included popular items that sales staffers already were sure to replenish. When the research examined only items that Wal-Mart sold less than 15 times a day, the out-of-stock reduction was 30 percent.
Wal-Mart hopes to see even greater improvement soon by giving employees handheld RFID scanners that will direct them precisely to cartons of products they need to bring from the storeroom.
Eventually, individual products in Wal-Mart and other stores are expected to get their own RFID tags to give stores even clearer views of their inventory.
"That's really where the supply chain gets most messy," said Kevin Ashton, who helped drive RFID development at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and now heads marketing for ThingMagic LLC, a maker of RFID readers.
Some high-value items like TVs and pharmaceuticals already have their own tags. But most item-level tagging is a decade away.
First, tag prices must drop below their current 5-to-7 cent range. Work also still needs to be done to master wireless interference issues that can arise in RFID-dense environments. And developers have to assure the public and retailers that data on the tags are secure and not invasive.
"We're seeing the RFID industry get a little bit more mature every day," Ashton said. "We don't view the RFID market as some overnight sensation."
"I've merely expressed my dislike for them and an opinion. Don't call me dude, and YOU go away."
No, you didn't just do that, dude ;-) you were mean to me ;-p (j/k)
Still no facts I see.
My point is the same - don't fear RFID. Come to understand it, how it really works.
I am sure if you double up the tinfoil, it will take care of everything. Actually, I don't think we can get real tinfoil anymore -- just aluminum foil. I suspect that is a big part of the problem.
I used a debit to buy grocerys today for the very FIRST time ever honest! L0L
I had to ask how to use it L0L
the store reads it by energizing it with a signal (proximity based) - the provides it the energy to transmit its code.
But for every cleck unemployed there is a techy head that gets a job and at a higher pay scale.
Well perhaps not a 1/1 ratio
You haven't answered the question. What are you hiding, who are you protecting.
generally true. however, that tech dude who gets a new job - is probably in india or china.
don't get me wrong, I am not arguing against the technology. this is a legitimate investment by business in technology to improve productivity.
Ah yes, understand RFID. Love it. Worship it. All hail RFID. Don't resist it, and all will be well citizen. You have nothing to fear, we are only helping you.
Agreed but Isee people looking for status that will spend cash on all kinds of crap they dont need
My favorite RFID story was where all of the drivers received their new e-z passes in the mail with multiple charges already on them. Seems the manufacturer didn't secure them properly and every time the truck shipping them went through a toll, they all registered.
its all one helluva balancing act isnt it?
Agreed but Isee people looking for status that will spend cash on all kinds of crap they dont need
Either that or people who wake up one day and decide, "Gee, ya know, I'm not nagged nearly enough. Life is just too damned easy. If only there was a way for my appliances to nag me!"
For an added bonus, the fridge could editorialize. Mine would say, "You lazy degenerate, the milk is going bad and do you have any idea how long that yogurt has been in there? And what's with all that beer? What respectable person drinks so much beer, and that's expensive beer, too. Why are you spending so much on beer? What is your problem?"
For a small fee, they could program it to sound like my mother...
Ah yes, understand UPC. Love it. Worship it. All hail UPC. Don't resist it, and all will be well citizen. You have nothing to fear, we are only helping you.
It makes just as much sense.
Or my ex-wife.
I hope you don't use the phone then. Cuz the phone company(s) has a record of EVERY call you've ever made. Ever.
The Internet routers briefly record every IP address you visit. They keep logs. "They" know every IP address visited by every other IP address.
If "they" did not do this, the internet would not function, and the phone comapnies could not complete your calls or send you a bill.
Active RFID Transmits a signal like a radio station at VHF or UHF frequency.
Passive has to be scanned like a barcode reader.
However RFID is scanned with omnidirectional RF energy which actually is used as the energy to activate a chip which contains a tiny antenna. a small amout of the relected energy is used to transmit at a very low power level back to the source where a handheld computer/reciever reads and stores the information.
Passive RFID is only vialble for say 20ft while active can transmit for miles like a Radio station
Yup
You cant have one without the other, its how things work
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.