RFID Demystified: Part 2. Applications within the supply chain.

In our previous article we discussed the technology, benefits and barriers toimplementations of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID). In this article wediscuss where this technology can be applied.Essentially, it is argued that RFID systems help companies to cut costs, improvecustomer service, reduce labour, increase accuracy and improve supply chainthroughput. RFID systems applications can be used by different industry sectorslike the military, retail, industrial, life sciences, logistics, and financial. The militaryand the life sciences sectors have been the first in using this technology (Das etal, 2002; Harrop et al, 2003; IDTechEx Ltd, 2003a), although within a moreexpensive and sophisticated context than we may find in most consumer goodssupply chains. Surveys of the application of RFID technology find it is being usedmostly for industrial/manufacturing - 44.5 percent of the RFID market (Perez,2003) - and transportation/distribution - 30.3 percent of the RFID market (Perez,2003).