According to a new Market Data forecasts from ABI research, it will take more than 5 years for 5G to reach 100 million subscriber mark - 2 years longer than 4G. Subscriber growth for 4G was much faster than with previous generations, fueled by the capabilities of increasingly powerful smartphones and the availability of 4G devices. 5G subscriber growth will likely be a bit more muted at first due to the increased complexity of 5G cells and networks, but will pick up in 2023.

Honeywell has developed two new products for supporting operations in the warehouse and distribution center.

The focus of RFID in the supply chain has shifted from case tagging to item tagging, says Ann Grackin, CEO of ChainLink Research. Grackin explains why this is so and details other areas of the supply chain where RFID is being embraced.

Picking in a frozen environment with heavy gloves, paper and pencil impaired the productivity and accuracy of operations at Perry's Ice Cream in Akron, N.Y. A voice-picking system from Vocollect enabled Perry's to solve these problems and gain other benefits.

In recent years, a growing number of retail RFID use cases have clearly demonstrated the benefits of being able to track inventory at the item level, leading to better shelf replenishment and fewer out of stocks. Many retailers quantify the benefits of reducing out of stocks not just at the item level (potential lost sales) but at the transaction level, since retailers closely track the number of items that comprise the average transaction (e.g. 3.6 items/sale). Using that example, an out-of-stock item (especially in a core category such as denim) could result in lost sales of an additional 2.6 items that were to be purchased with it.

For the past four years, Julio Cesar Lestido S.A., the official Uruguayan importer of cars and trucks manufactured by the Volkswagen Group, has been employing passive ultrahigh-frequency RFID tags to track the metal tools it uses to maintain vehicles. The company says that it is now developing a plan to utilize the technology to record each vehicle's life history, including its date of import and sales information, as well as all maintenance provided.

SATO, which specializes in barcode printing, labeling and EPC/RFID solutions, has released the S84-ex and S86-ex print engines for case carton, pallet and individual product identification, and print and apply applications.

The North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) is deploying a radio frequency identification technology that enables its own laboratory testing of samples from job sites, as well as inspections of precast concrete materials at the sites of suppliers, to be captured and then managed electronically.