Are reusable containers the key to RFID?

By Corinne Kator, Associate Editor -- Modern Materials Handling, 6/9/2006

The Holy Grail in RFID today is return on investment (ROI). And the Reusable Pallet and Container Coalition (RPCC) thinks it may have found it.

The key, says RPCC Executive Director Jeanie Johnson, is integrating RFID tags with reusable pallets and containers. Her organization plans to launch a research project later this month to test the idea.

“The RFID testing that’s been done, the trials that have been performed, have all been on expendable packaging,” says Johnson. “We believe this project is going to show that reusables are going to become the enabler of RFID technology.”

In the first phase of the project, RPCC will work with a major university to test the durability of EPC-compliant, Gen 2 RFID tags, determining whether the tags will survive a longer use cycle.

In the second phase, RPCC will develop an economic model for integrating RFID tags with reusable transport packaging. The group is confident, says Johnson, that its research will demonstrate a positive ROI.

If phases 1 and 2 are successful, RPCC will conduct a field test this fall with about 1000 RFID-enabled returnable containers. Johnson says RPCC plans to conduct the pilot with a producer/shipper of perishable goods. Because perishables are shipped under demanding conditions, she says, a successful field test with perishables will be a convincing proof of the technology.