August 25, 2006
Try Before You Buy (Into) RFID
RFID Journal reports that New Balance, a shoes and sports apparel maker, is taking a positive approach to RFID, and conducting their own tech trials before diving in - whereas a lot of other companies are rushing to tag their products to meet retailers' demands and not making themselves aware of implementation issues before the fact. Another clothing and outerwear maker, Walls Industries, is also expecting to benefit from RFID technology, which they are using to comply with Wal-Mart mandates, as welll as to monitor their shipping process. Clothing makers have been using RFID in their products since at least last summer.
Trying before you buy into RFID is wise advice for any company finding themselves faced with either having to implement RFID technology or who think they may have to eventually. As much as some people would like it to, I don't think radio frequency technology is going away, despite concerns of security and privacy. And in it's current applications, there is still a lot to be learned.
Any sort of manufacturing company in an industry moving to RFID for asset tracking and supply chain management now has the task of hiring someone knowledgeable enough about the technology and its uses to even assess their needs, let alone try. It's much easier to blindly hire a consultant and hope for the best. But understanding and planning for RFID implementation is crucial, to reduce the chances of costly setbacks down the road.
--
Did you enjoy this post?
« RFID Roundup - Fri Aug 25/06 | Main | Fastlinks For Mon Aug 21 - Fri Aug 25, 2006 »
