Applications

RFID technology is not as much of a novelty as one might think. Improved and enhanced over the last two decades, it has been through large-scale deployment efforts in a variety of industries, some of which often escaping public notice.

Logistics

RFID technology is already widely used in logistics, usually to optimize the flow of goods, to enhance visibility throughout the supply-chain, or to improve fleet management efficiency. RFID tagging of pallets and containers is quite common, with US supermarket chain Wal-Mart the first to show large-scale productivity gains achieved through the use of this technology. Airport baggage routing is also starting to benefit from RFID's significantly higher reliability compared to standard barcode systems.

Traceability

Food safety represents an increasingly acute concern for individuals, companies and governments alike. Mad cow disease, bird flu, salmonella poisoning: the periodic outbreak of new sanitary crises develops into a major cause of public apprehension; chemical treatments, genetically modified organisms, organic products: consumers are increasingly concerned about the origin of their food as well as about what happened to it before reaching their dinner table. The use of RFID technology is already widespread for food traceability, starting with electronic livestock identification. Its use is spreading steadily, not only in the agri-business, but also wherever else acute traceability concerns have developed, such as in toxic or pharmaceutical products.

Security

Access control is one of today’s most well known RFID technology applications. Forget about keys or magnetic cards: simply wave an access card in front of a reader and the door unlocks – or remains locked – according to the cardholder’s predefined access rights.