When Mission Foods deployed RFID at its Texas distribution facilities in 2010, the company saved $700,000 on packaging costs by switching from corrugated boxes to reusable plastic boxes with embedded RFID tags. Last year Mission Foods rolled out the program to its West Coast DCs, resulting in an additional savings of $1 million. When the [...]

When retailers build a business case for deploying RFID, they often start with the improved inventory accuracy that the technology can deliver. “We were very focused on inventory accuracy,” says Bill Connell, senior vice president of logistics and operations at Macy’s. “Our journey began with achieving the benefits from accurate data.” Retailers, however, are starting [...]

Innovation was on full display during last week’s RFID Live conference in Orlando. In many cases, the new applications showcased by vendors like Impinj and NXP interact heavily with consumers, bringing shoppers even closer to the technology. Vendors were impressed with some of the new use cases brought to them by attendees during the show, [...]

It’s been more than 10 years since the Auto-ID Center was founded at MIT. The Center served as a launch pad for RFID innovation, and was the birthplace of companies like ThingMagic, OAT Systems and others. With co-founders Sanjay Sarma and David Brock set to take the stage at Wednesday’s Auto-ID & Sensing Solutions Expo [...]

When Paul Peters spoke at RFID Live last April,  the deputy assistant secretary of defense for supply chain integration for the Department of Defense indicated that the U.S. budget crisis would not slow the deployment of RFID in the Department of Defense. A year later, government spending on RFID projects has slowed considerably. Since the [...]

The retail industry continues to embrace RFID technology. Sales gains, operational efficiencies and a reduction in shrink have been well documented, and 2012 is expected to be a breakthrough year as major retailers cue up the technology for deployment. RFID in retail is expected to become ubiquitous within 12 to 36 months. As Macy’s Chief [...]

Tremendous progress has been made when it comes to the ability of RFID technology to work on metal and with liquids. Companies like Xerafy and Omni-ID have taken the mystery out of on-metal tagging, and RFID-based solutions are common in aerospace, medical, automotive and many other industries. The development of an antenna-less RFID tag by [...]

RFID in retail is getting closer to becoming ubiquitous, and 2012 is expected to represent a watershed year for the technology. A new survey reveals that 80 percent of retailers have initiated pilots or deployed RFID at the store level. Aside from confirming that item-level adoption is rapidly gaining traction, the report also indicates that [...]

The retail industry is keeping a close eye on several lawsuits brought against retail chains that have recently rolled out RFID technology. The litigation, brought by Round Rock Research LLC, claims that the retail use of RFID infringes on several of its patents. Although it is unknown if the patent licensing suits will hold up [...]

As the use of RFID explodes, the technology is being integrated into more and more consumer-facing applications. That was evident last week when Burger King announced that it is rolling out Coca-Cola’s RFID-enabled Freestyle soda machines to all 850 of its company-owned stores. In another interesting consumer-facing use case, the Tampa Bay Lightning have embedded [...]