• Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • Supplier Directory
  • SCB YouTube
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • Logout
  • My Profile
  • LOGISTICS
    • Air Cargo
    • All Logistics
    • Express/Small Shipments
    • Facility Location Planning
    • Freight Forwarding/Customs Brokerage
    • Global Gateways
    • Global Logistics
    • Last Mile Delivery
    • Logistics Outsourcing
    • LTL/Truckload Services
    • Ocean Transportation
    • Rail & Intermodal
    • Reverse Logistics
    • Service Parts Management
    • Transportation & Distribution
  • TECHNOLOGY
    • All Technology
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Cloud & On-Demand Systems
    • Data Management (Big Data/IoT/Blockchain)
    • ERP & Enterprise Systems
    • Forecasting & Demand Planning
    • Global Trade Management
    • Inventory Planning/ Optimization
    • Product Lifecycle Management
    • Sales & Operations Planning
    • SC Finance & Revenue Management
    • SC Planning & Optimization
    • Sourcing/Procurement/SRM
    • Supply Chain Visibility
    • Transportation Management
  • GENERAL SCM
    • Business Strategy Alignment
    • Education & Professional Development
    • Global Supply Chain Management
    • Global Trade & Economics
    • HR & Labor Management
    • Quality & Metrics
    • Regulation & Compliance
    • SC Security & Risk Mgmt
    • Supply Chains in Crisis
    • Sustainability & Corporate Social Responsibility
  • WAREHOUSING
    • All Warehouse Services
    • Conveyors & Sortation
    • Lift Trucks & AGVs
    • Order Fulfillment
    • Packaging
    • RFID, Barcode, Mobility & Voice
    • Robotics
    • Warehouse Management Systems
  • INDUSTRIES
    • Aerospace & Defense
    • Apparel
    • Automotive
    • Chemicals & Energy
    • Consumer Packaged Goods
    • E-Commerce/Omni-Channel
    • Food & Beverage
    • Healthcare
    • High-Tech/Electronics
    • Industrial Manufacturing
    • Pharmaceutical/Biotech
    • Retail
  • THINK TANK
  • WEBINARS
    • On-Demand Webinars
    • Upcoming Webinars
  • PODCASTS
  • VIDEOS
  • WHITEPAPERS
Home » You Can Expect to See Many More RFID Innovations in 2011

You Can Expect to See Many More RFID Innovations in 2011

February 23, 2011
SupplyChainBrain

Analyst Insight: The huge surge of item-level tagging in 2010 has produced an intense renewed interest in EPC/UHF RFID. This is resulting in an increase in R&D investment by many firms, which will bear fruit in 2011. Expect to see significant new innovations and cost reductions in the RFID world this year.

-Bill McBeath, chief research officer at ChainLink Research

2010 will be seen by many as the year that RFID finally started taking off, particularly item-level tagging in apparel. We reached a milestone: over 1 billion EPC tags were sold, well over double what was purchased in 2009. Growth is being constrained by industry capacity rather than demand.  While apparel was the big story, other industries, such as pharmaceuticals, are also seeing strong growth. Some niche and not-so-niche areas - like ID badges, ticketing and cattle - are also doing well.

The growth has spurred revitalized interest in this sector by investors. A number of firms received new funding in 2010. This is spurring a "renaissance" in RFID development.  We saw many innovations coming out last year and expect even more this year. For example, for RFID readers, it used to be that you had basically two choices: either A) your standard issue one-size-fits-all readers, which tended to be rather large and expensive square boxes, or B) custom-built readers, that were aimed mostly at the embedded reader marketplace and were completely customized to be used within a specific piece of equipment or device. Now we have reached a critical mass in the size of the market that is enabling off-the-shelf readers to be offered in a much richer variety of form factors and price points, optimized for a specific market segment or application. This type of innovation helps drive further adoption.

We see similar levels of innovation in tags, RFID-related software applications, integration with mobile devices, integration with enterprise systems, and RFID-related services. While the hype is not quite at the same level as the headlines of 2003, all of this buzz, as well as innovation, is getting the attention of customers and prompting them to reconsider the technology.

Eight years ago, when Walmart and the DoD made their big announcements about using RFID on all inbound shipments, tags were quite expensive, individual installations had to be practically hand-engineered, and performance of the systems and components was spotty.  The industry has matured a lot since then - tag prices have come down by a factor of 10, read rates are much more reliable, and the tools and ecosystem are in place to make installing these systems much more routine.  All of that bodes well for RFID in 2011.

The Outlook

We expect 2011 to build upon the growth from 2010 for the EPC RFID world. Order backlogs are very healthy for the major chip makers. Growth may not exceed 2010 in percentage terms, but should match or exceed it in absolute number of units shipped. Most of the growth will continue to be in apparel retail, but other sectors, such as pharmaceuticals and retail electronics, will also see healthy growth.

RELATED CONTENT

RELATED VIDEOS

Technology Business Strategy Alignment Global Supply Chain Management Quality & Metrics Industrial Manufacturing
KEYWORDS Business Strategy Alignment Global Supply Chain Management Industrial Manufacturing Quality & Metrics RFID & Barcode Supply Chain Analysis & Consulting Technology
  • Related Articles

    Expect Measured Growth in Transportation and Logistics in 2011 - and Customers to Demand More Value

    Expect to See More Near-Term Sales, M&A Activity in Logistics

    The Better to See You: Location-Sensing Helps Retailers Track Your Every Move in the Store

SupplyChainBrain

New Zealand Drink Makers Slash Production as CO2 Shortage Strikes

More from this author

Wake up to live
“Supply Chains in Crisis”
updates and the latest Supply Chain News!

Subscribe to our Daily Newsletter

Timely, incisive articles delivered directly to your inbox.

Popular Stories

  • A PERSON HOLDS UP A TABLET COMPUTER IN A WAREHOUSE, SUPER-IMPOSED BY A GRAPHIC SHOWING A COMPLEX WEB OF SUPPLY CHAIN ELEMENTS

    Three Post-Pandemic Actions for Repairing Global Supply Chains

    Data Management (Big Data/IoT/Blockchain)
  • A MAN IN A SUIT SHAKES HANDS WITH A WOMAN IN A HARD HAT, NEXT TO A STACK OF CONTAINERS

    Three Procurement Technology Evolutions for 2023

    Sourcing/Procurement/SRM
  • The blank stare of a child's eye who is standing behind what appears to be a wooden frame

    The Alarming Continued Rise of Modern Slavery in Supply Chains: How Procurement Can Help Reverse the Trend

    Sourcing/Procurement/SRM
  • A GROUP OF WORKERS RANGED IN AN OFFICE, OF DIVERSE RACE, GENDER, AGE AND PHYSICAL ABILITY

    Podcast | The Supply Chain Workforce of the Future Is Already Here

    HR & Labor Management
  • DOCUMENTS BEARING THE INSIGNIA OF US CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION LIE ON A TABLE

    New CBP Regs Call for Greater Diligence by Brokers in Reporting Security Breaches

    Freight Forwarding/Customs Brokerage

Digital Edition

Scb nov 2022 sm

2022 Supply Chain Innovator of the Year

VIEW THE LATEST ISSUE

Case Studies

  • New Revenue for Cloud-Based TMS that Embeds Orderful’s Modern EDI Platform

  • Convenience Store Client Maximizes Profit and Improves Customer Service

  • A Digitally Native Footwear Brand Finds Rapid Fulfillment

  • Expanding Apparel Brand Scales Seamlessly with E-Commerce Technology

  • How a Global LSP Scaled its Security Program and Won More Business

Visit Our Sponsors

Orderful Yang Ming Alithya
Barcoding Blue Yonder BNSF Logistics
CoEnterprise Data Capture Deposco
E2open GAINSystems Generix
Geodis GEP GreyOrange
Here Honeywell Intelligrated IFM
Infor Inmar Keelvar
Kinaxis Korber Lean Solutions Group 2H
Liberty SBF Locus Robotics Logility
LogistiVIEW Lucas Systems MCA Connect
MPO Nvidia Old Dominion
OpenText ORTEC Overhaul
Parsyl PMMI QIMA
Redwood Logistics Ryder E-commerce by Whiplash Saddle Creek Logistics
Schneider Dedicated Setlog Holding AG Ship4WD
Shipwell Tecsys TGW Systems
Thomson Reuters Tive Trailer Bridge
Vecna Robotics Verity
Verusen
  • More From SCB
    • Featured Content
    • Video Library
    • Think Tank Blog
    • SupplyChainBrain Podcast
    • Whitepapers
    • On-Demand Webinars
    • Upcoming Webinars
  • Digital Offerings
    • Digital Issue
    • Subscribe
    • Manage Your Subscription
    • Newsletters
  • Resources
    • Events Calendar
    • SCB's Great Supply Chain Partners
    • Supplier Directory
    • Case Study Showcase
    • Supply Chain Innovation Awards
    • 100 Great Partners Form
  • SCB Corporate
    • Advertise on SCB.COM
    • About Us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact Us
    • Data Sharing Opt-Out

All content copyright ©2023 Keller International Publishing Corp All rights reserved. No reproduction, transmission or display is permitted without the written permissions of Keller International Publishing Corp

Design, CMS, Hosting & Web Development :: ePublishing