Evolution of RFID
In World War II, The Germans, Japanese, Americans, and British were all using radar to warn approaching planes from miles away. The British put transmitters on planes, which received signals from radar stations on the ground and broadcasted a signal back to identify the aircraft, thus, creating the first RFID system.
Since then, RFID systems have come a long way. From Aerospace to logistics to football, RFID tracking systems are now on a very complex level, leaving users with incredible benefits. Improved data accuracy, faster data collection, improved inventory/asset tracking, and reduced labor costs are just a few of the many improvements that RFID generates.
In 2004, Walmart was one of the first fortune 500 companies to implement RFID, spending up to 50 million USD on RFID initiatives and pilot programs. This is one of the key events that set the base of the “high cost” image that many people tend to associate with RFID. Not only has the price gone down immensely, but implementation is proven to bring you a substantial return on investment (ROI) in a short amount of time. Companies in manufacturing, warehousing, and retail are now known to achieve up to a 200% ROI.1
Today, RFID is a fast evolving market with a bright future. One thing driving the demand for RFID is Omni-channel retailing. The growing eCommerce and mCommerce requires better inventory tracking and management than ever before, leaving RFID as the answer. The demand is so high that it is projected to grow to a 24.5-billion-dollar market by 2020.2 The most innovative companies have adopted this system, and the more retailers that implement RFID, the more the price will drop. EPC Global predicted that the cost per tag will drop to just 5 cents per tag.3
RFID has the capability to deliver dramatic benefits to companies in many industries. The next step is to decide whether or not your company will either participate in these trends and seize opportunities, or potentially end up playing catch-up.
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SOURCES:
1 http://www.rfidjournal.com/articles/view?2602/2
2 https://www.statista.com/statistics/299966/size-of-the-global-rfid-market/
3 https://www.rfidjournal.com/faq/show?84