OVERVIEW

In spite of the current resistance to acceptance and deployment of RFID technology, difficulties will be overcome as costs are lowered, usage extended, and benefits documented. Participating businesses will find enough added values to generate reasonable returns on investments, and their successes will inspire further deployment. As adoption takes hold and the number of factual documentations increases, it will become more apparent that RFID technology is not just a means of complying with heavy-handed mandates from a few very large purchasing organizations. It will become an enabler within supply chains, creating the necessary visibility to introduce a host of improvements to efficiency, safety, security, counterfeiting, theft, shrinkage, shortages, inventory management, and more.

The technology will also spread into other areas of usage, broadcasting its usefulness and potential application. The April 15, 2005 issue of USA Today offered such an example. The newspaper noted, "When 20,000 runners take to the streets of Hopkinton, Mass., for the start of Monday's 109 ^th Boston Marathon, race officials can track their progress electronically. Transponders, laced into a shoe of each entrant, will keep tabs on the runners." How do they work? The 3/16-inch, 0.2-ounce ChampionChip is a timing device. Every runner loops it into their laces through holes in the chip, fitting the chip snugly inside their instep. The chip identifies each runner's bib number and records when the runner crosses the start line, regardless of when the starting gun is fired. There are 11 checkpoints that record runners as...