RFID pays off in two places, and nowhere else
RFID is sold as the successor to the barcode. It is not: it is a different tool for a different problem, and in most shops and warehouses the barcode is cheaper and good enough. This page says where it does pay off, where it falls apart and which cost is missing from the quote.
What RFID does that a barcode does not
One property explains every advantage and every problem: no line of sight is needed.
- Reading without aimingYou have to see a barcode to scan it. An RFID tag you do not: it answers from inside a box, from within a stack or from two metres away. That is where the speed comes from, and nothing else.
- Many at once instead of one by oneHundreds of tags in seconds, without touching them. That is what turns a stocktake from days into hours and it is the only argument that matters in practice.
- Every unit its own numberA barcode says which product it is; an RFID tag says which unit. That is useful for uniqueness and provenance and it is precisely the property most organisations do nothing with.
- No camera image and no personAn RFID tag hangs on a product and not on a customer. That avoids the whole discussion that camera analytics does require, as long as the tag is not left active and traceable after the till.
Where it pays off and where it falls apart
Two situations where it nearly always adds up, and three where it nearly never does.
Pays off: many items, counted often
Fashion and footwear are the textbook case: many variants in size and colour, stock that shifts weekly and a stocktake that takes days by hand. There the count drops to hours and the stock figure is right for the first time.
Pays off: when the stock figure is worth money
Where you sell online what sits in the shop, a stock figure that is ten per cent out is a sale you miss or an order you cannot fill. That is the sum RFID pays for, not the speed itself.
Falls apart: metal and liquid
Both disturb the signal. With tins, drinks, tools and cosmetics in metal packaging it only works with special tags and an adjusted layout, and then the sum is a different one. This appears in no brochure.
Falls apart: the tag has to go on something
The real cost is not the reader but the tag per item, and above all the question of who puts it on. If it goes on at the supplier, it works. If somebody at your place has to label a hundred thousand units, the project is already over there.
Falls apart: at low volumes
Below a few thousand items you will not earn the investment back, however good the demonstration was. A scanner and a decent working method pay for themselves faster there.
Four parts, and one boundary
This is the same catalogue and the same installation job as the barcode line already in place.
- Handhelds and readersTerminals with RFID for counting on the floor, and fixed readers where a doorway or a shelf has to be read continuously. The same devices and the same brands as with barcode.
- Label printers and labelsPrinters that write the tag and print it in one pass, with labels that suit the product and the environment. For metal and liquid that is a different label and not the same roll.
- The network and the rolloutReaders hang off a network and the rollout across sites or warehouses is the real work: measuring up, mounting, connecting and checking, per location. That is a project and not an order.
- Where our boundary sitsThe detection gates at the exit and the security tags around them are a product line of their own from a specialist security supplier. The stock platform that turns the data into an overview is a third party’s software. We supply the equipment and the network and make sure that platform receives clean data.
What goes with this
RFID sits beside the barcode and not in place of it.
Questions we get about this
The ones that come up most, answered briefly.
Does RFID replace our barcode scanners?
No, and that is the heart of this page. RFID sits beside it and not in place of it: the barcode stays at the till and on the receipt, and RFID does the counting. In most shops and warehouses the barcode alone is cheaper and good enough.
What does it really cost?
Not the reader but the tag per item, and above all the question of who puts it on. If it goes on the product at your supplier, the sum can be made to work. If somebody at your place has to label a hundred thousand units, that is the item that stops the project.
Do you supply the detection gates at the exit as well?
No. Those gates and the security tags around them are a product line of their own from a specialist security supplier. We supply the readers, the handhelds, the label printers and the network, and we work alongside the party doing the gates.
Work it out first, then buy tags
Say how many items are involved, how often you count and whether your supplier can tag. From that follows whether RFID adds up for you, and if the answer is no we say so.
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