The latest edition of Packaging News has an interesting discussion on the merits of RFID against the use of bar codes. For now, it concludes that, for primary packaging at least, bar codes remain the technology of choice, and it may be that way for some time to come. Organisations who are investing in technology for "primary pack coding" continue to choose bar code systems over RFID.
Savvy watchers have always concluded that it is simply not a case of bar codes v RFID, because the two will co-exist for some time yet. While the article doesn't tell us much more "about why RFID is not completely there" (in the retail world) - it does have significant traction in other sectors - the piece does give a useful summary of the thought processes affecting the packaging industry.
Ultimately, I wonder whether the choice of bar codes or RFID will ultimately also be impacted by the green argument, with a desire for more environmentally-friendly packaging - or simply less "wrap-around" altogether. This is an area, I'm sure, that the packaging industry, together with retailers, is already addressing in its future planning, especially with the Courtauld Commitment in mind. The Courtauld Commitment has an ultimate target of decreasing the amount of packaging waste by 2010.
Comments (1)
In the battle between bar code and passive RFID everyone is focused on the fact that RFID does not require line of sight to read as the primary advantage of RFID over bar code. This is not really true. The primary advantage of RFID over bar codes is the ability to read groups of items, automatically, not one at a time. Examples are: a case of items, a pallet of cases, and items on shelves waiting to be sold.
Unfortunately, in pilot after pilot this property has proven to be completely unreliable with read rates ranging from 50% to 80%. This has forced RFID to revert to reading tags one at a time with hand held readers.
When it comes to hand reading items one at a time, the fact that bar codes require line of sight turns into an advantage by helping the user to know what he is reading. This fact, and the significant high cost of RFID tags is why item level tagging is going nowhere.
Posted by Chris Kapsambelis | August 5, 2008 8:45 PM
Posted on August 5, 2008 20:45