When you look at Science Fiction from 50 or even 100 years ago, and you look at all of the things that were predicted for the future, many of them have come true. Robots assisting us, TV screens that we talk into for our phones, computers that can talk to us, doors that open automatically for us, conveyors that help transport us. Everything but that pesky flying car!
That is why 20 years after passive RFID first burst onto the stage, the question has to be asked, why isn’t it more pervasive? Why aren’t all warehouses using the technology to track all inventory. Why isn’t there convergence between inside and outside of the four walls for tracking items? How come our car and our mobile device can tell us exactly where they are, but not much else?
Well, the technology certainly exists today to track things, real time, just about anywhere. But the problem still is the cost and complexity of that level of tracking. Over and over again, we visit a customer who is looking at using RFID in their operations, expecting it to be a quick and inexpensive add.
Hype from some of our competitors is certainly to blame. Not us though, part of our job is to shine the light of reality onto our customers’ technology wants. Then with the truth on our side, we look into their operations to see where the technology truly makes sense.
Things continue to evolve for sure. The RFID readers are smarter and better. The tags have much better read ranges than before. The software needed to manage the large influx of data from RFID readers, filtering, and interfacing with existing business software is also coming along.
Tracking outside of the four walls, or with active tags inside the four walls continues to be very expensive and difficult to integrate.
We are starting to see customers do what we consider to be a very smart thing. An alpha test. Tag some products, stand up some readers and start collecting data. Do that for a while and many of your questions about how to integrate the technology start to answer themselves. Not a huge investment, certainly under $100K. But not trying to eat the entire RFID elephant at once. A more measured and engineered approach.
A test to prove to yourself what will work and what won’t. Where it makes sense to start with the technology and where it doesn’t. Something that you can show upper management that will get them excited about using the technology and start budgeting for the future.
So, if you are looking for a partner who will help you vet RFID technology for the long haul, visit us at www.emptechgroup.com to learn more.