RFID Technology: Ten RFID Myths and Realities PART-III

I had described two RFID Myth in my last series. Let's see further three myths. It is interesting to read.

If anyone, who is reading this first time, I would request him to go through my last posts on RFID which will give clear understanding about it.

Myth #3: You can take inventory with a push of a button.
The technology does not exist today and, if it did, the cost would be prohibitive. In order to take a "push-button inventory," you would have to position RFID readers every 10 feet throughout your facility. Instead, in real systems, inventory is tracked by knowing when an item came in, where it was placed, and when it left. While RFID allows inventory to be taken much faster than with current barcode practices, taking inventory with the push of a button is not available at this time and it may not be available for quite some time.

Myth #5: You can buy RFID tags for 5¢.

The information the tag sends to the reader is only as good as the information that was put on the tag. This opens the door to human error in data entry. Information can also be affected by poor system design, unskillful or incompetent integration, poor software design, unfriendly materials such as water and metal, human error, double reads, no reads and other factors. However, a well-designed system that detects and corrects errors can provide near perfect information about your supply chain.

Myth #6: The tag cost is critical to making any deployment pay off.

You can’t purchase 5¢ tags, as of Fall 2006. Tags are not yet close to 5¢ yet, though the cost of tags has dropped considerably in the last two years. Before we see tags for a nickel,, a standard has to emerge that will allow tags to be mass produced in the billions. For instance, Gillette's ordered 500M tags from Alien at 10¢ each.

The good news, however, is that tags do not have to be 5¢ in order to derive an ROI


-Shahnawaz