SATO CL408e - How will Large Entities such as Wal-Mart and U.S. Department of Defense (Dod) Impact the Supply Chain with Regards to RFID

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Industrial, Scientific, and Medical (ISM) band from 902 to 928 MHz. This is more than
sufficient both in terms of power and bandwidth.
Negative impacts may result from European supply chain centres attempting to implement
RFID solutions as a result of current ETSI regulations. To maintain efficiency, most
distribution centres would require many readers with a 100 percent duty cycle. However, if
limitations imposing that the reader be off for 100 milliseconds could mean that 10 items
will be missed when items pass a reader at a rate of 100 items per second. This is clearly
unacceptable in an industry requiring 99.9% accuracy or better. The results of these
wattage and duty cycle limitations will not only harm companies; it will pointlessly slow the
adoption of RFID systems which are designed to improve supply chain efficiencies, reduce
waste, and lower the cost of goods. Also, the ideals of having a single global standard
would become much more difficult to achieve.
WHY ARE MAJOR RETAILERS PUSHING FOR RFID?
Major retailers such as Wal-Mart and METRO have been pushing to implement RFID
throughout the supply chain. The main incentive for these retailers to push for RFID:
product traceability. RFID technology enables automatic inspection of incoming goods
where delivery of goods to a store is read during transport to the retail outlet, read again at
the retail outlet to be identified, and then finally moved out to the storefront. The readings
can contain information such as point of origin, processed date, product’s expiration date
and temperature, and scanning can be done from up to 30 feet away.
Q: How will large entities such as Wal-Mart and U.S. Department of Defense (DoD)
impact the supply chain with regards to RFID?
Wal-Mart and the Department of Defence are critical trading partners for many
manufacturers, and there will be a huge impact on speeding up the suppliers’ RFID plans if
they mandate the use of tags for certain deliveries. However, the first applications of RFID
will be for tracking reusable assets such as containers, yard equipment and lorries.
In recent years, the cost of RFID tags has dropped from several U.S. dollars to less than
USD$1.00, making RFID increasingly cost-effective for higher volume applications. The
changes in social needs (on the consumer end) to have access to production centres,
manufacturing, and distribution records of products purchased, particularly for perishable
foods, has partially driven big retailers to make use of RFID tags within the supply chain.