How has radio frequency identification (RFID) technology affected the supply chain?
RFID (radio frequency identification) tags are essentially barcodes on steroids. Whereas barcodes only identify the product, RFID tags can tell what the product is, where it has been, when it expires—essentially whatever information a company wishes to program. RFID technology generates mountains of new data about the location of pallets, cases, cartons, totes and individual products in the supply chain. It produces oceans of information about when and where merchandise is manufactured, picked, packed and shipped. It creates rivers of numbers telling retailers about the expiration dates of their perishable items—numbers that will have to be stored, transmitted in real-time and shared with warehouse management, inventory management, financial and other enterprise systems. In other words, as RFID technologies in the supply chain spread into the operations of more manufacturers, parts suppliers and retailers, they will transform the supply chain as we know it today. Another benefit of RFI
