Interest builds for item-level tagging

Real implementations are still several years off, but there is more serious interest in item-level tagging than ever.

By Bob Trebilcock, Editor at Large -- Modern Materials Handling, 10/24/2006

Attendees who stopped at the booth of Gen 2 chipmaker Impinj at RFID World in Dallas last winter saw a demonstration many thought was physically impossible: Item-level RFID tags the size of a postage stamp being read as they floated in a bottle of Gatorade.

The demonstration was one of the factors sparking increased interest in item-level tagging over the last six months. “A year ago, no one was talking about item-level tagging,” says Bill Colleran, Impinj’s CEO. “Today, users realize there are a number of applications, like the prevention of counterfeiting in pharmaceutical and apparel, where the return is large and immediate.”

From the start, the Holy Grail for RFID in the supply chain has been tagging and tracking products at the item level. The barrier to getting there has been the price of the tags and the shortcomings of the technology. Unlike the tags floating in Gatorade, previous generations of tags couldn’t be read through liquids or metals.

Even today, most supply chain projects are focused on case- and pallet-level tagging. “But the visionary projects are item level,” says Chris Kelley, director of RFID business development for Intermec. “If you talk to major retailers, they’ll tell you that real reason for RFID is to get to item-level tracking to minimize out of stock situations.”

While deployments on a broad scale are still several years off, companies working in the area believe the first projects to move beyond a pilot will happen in the coming year.

“Tags are coming down in price, standards are in place, and we’re learning from the early pilots that we can consistently reduce out of stocks,” says Robert Locke, CEO of Vue Technology. “Retailers are gaining confidence that if they deploy the technology, they will achieve results.”