A pragmatic approach to rfid - 5 business cases delivering the best return on investment 

Growing interest from the market for RFID ... RFID or, in other words, the use of radio frequency tags for identification, tracking and tracing purposes, is all around us. It is being used, for example, for the identification of pets, the payment of road tolls, access control in train stations, quality control of food products and many other applications. Although the technology behind RFID has reached maturity in a number of applications, it has been largely overhyped over the last few years. Many integrators felt the pressure to offer RFID solutions, but the high expectations raised have never really been met.

The main reason for this is that with RFID, the possibilities for applications are endless. Depending on the type of radio frequency and tag used, the capabilities of each RFID solution can vary significantly in terms of reading distance, type and amount of information stored, or cost of implementation.

Nevertheless, when choosing the right material and approach for an RFID application, important benefits can be realised in terms of traceability and efficiency. Today, a growing number of solution providers are focusing on niche markets in which the requirements and benefits can be more easily defined for RFID. Furthermore, now that the technology is becoming mature in various niches and proving its worth, RFID is once again on the radar, amongst other technologies in supply chain environments.