According to the book, radio frequency identification technology is shaping the future of global supply chains, and smart retail consumer goods companies are seeking opportunities for advanced compliance with industry mandates. The book is to be published at the end of this month under the title RFID Labeling: Smart Labeling Concepts & Applications for the Consumer Packaged Goods Supply Chain.
The US-based team of authors - Robert A. Kleist, Andy Chapman, David Sakai and Brad Jarvis - collectively drew on their experiences of working with the industry's top suppliers to Wal-Mart to ready them for RFID adoption. They describe how to get started using RFID and present a primer on smart label technology.
"The consumer packaged goods executives and managers whom are facing RFID mandates need snapshots of what successful RFID migration looks like, and that's what we have given them in this book," said co-author Kleist, CEO for Printronix, an leader in pioneering industrial printing technologies, including RFID printing, bar code compliance and networked printer management.
"In 'RFID Labeling,' we give practical knowledge that an information-hungry market needs," Kleist continued. "We have worked with the leading retail suppliers marching toward the January 2005 Wal-Mart compliance deadline. We've written about their shared experiences to give readers real-world knowledge about RF technology, label compliance, adoption and global expansion."
RFID tags are tiny computer chips connected to miniature antennae that can be affixed to physical objects. The most common application of RFID contains an Electronic Product Code (EPC) with sufficient capacity to provide unique identifiers for all items produced worldwide.
When an RFID reader emits a radio signal, tags in the vicinity respond by transmitting their stored data to the reader. Passive (battery-less) RFID tags, read-range can vary from less than an 3 cm to 10 metres, while active (self-powered) tags can have a much longer read range. The data is then sent to a distributed computing system involved in supply chain management or inventory control.
With more and more of an emphasis on food traceability and safety as well as increasing logistics efficiency, RFID is being increasingly employed by both food retailers and manufacturers. US-based retailer Wal-Mart has led the way in the introduction of RFID technology, with its insistence that all its suppliers implement the technology leading to a world-wide surge in demand. Largely driven by this factor it is estimated that by global expenditure on RFID will increase from approximately $1 billion in 2001 to around $3 billion by 2007.