Getting to know the RFID system...

Over the last decades technological changes have made a remarkable presence in individuals, small and large organisation, developed and developing countries and worldwide.

It is experimented and used for different people from various ages, social status, background, knowledge, skills; organisations of different sizes and industries, and countries from different perspectives (country or industry) which is very important for makers and business decision makers. Many of us make the technology part of our lives and each of us interpret it and perceived it in different ways.

As part of the technological advances and changes that many countries, industries and organisations around the world are adopting, is the RFID (Radio Frequency Identification), which is a system that uses waves for identification. The RFID provides unique identification or serial number of an object (pallets, cases, items, animals, humans).

Some examples of how it could be used in different industries are:

• A worker at a distribution center can instantly identify each and every one of the items contained in every box on a pallet on the tongs of the forklift she is driving;
• A librarian can locate a book that had been hopelessly miss-shelved;
• A worker at a livestock processing facility can instantly access the identity and history of a cow;
• A hospital can locate critical medical devices instantly, wherever they are located, throughout the facility;
• A pharmacist can tell that two bottles in his supply of a high in demand, highly addictive prescription drug are counterfeit;
• A golfer can instantly locate his errant shot and retrieve the ball from the thicket where it landed.

RFID is currently regarded as one of the most promising auto-identification and data capture technologies (OECD, 2007). This technology works using a concept similar to barcoding but it utilizes the advantages of wireless technology, allowing automated data identification and wiressly capturing tagged objects without need for contact or direct line of sight.

Private organisations are using RFID mainly in logistic and supply chains (Fish and Forrest, 2007; Chao et al., 2007). Meanwhile public transportation, healthcare and government identification are primary examples of applications in public sectors.

RFID is perceived as a critical technology for various purposes and applications. Some of the advantages that RFID brings is improving the efficiency and effectiveness of supply chains, improving security in business operations, and providing better customer service.

These technologies provide many benefits to the organisations that use them. However, how these technologies affect the consumer and their willingness to adopt the technology is often overlooked. Many of these RFID tags remain active after consumers purchase them. These RFID tags, placed in a product for one purpose and left in the product after the tags have served their purpose, are residual RFIDs. 

Residual RFID technology can have many positive and negative effects on consumers' willingness to buy and use products containing RFID, and thus, on the business's ability to sell products containing RFID. If consumers refuse to buy products with residual RFID tags in them, the business harm is greater than the business benefit, regardless of any gain in supply chain efficiency. In this study, we outline some of the advantages and disadvantages of Residual RFID from the consumer perspective, then follow up with an in depth survey and analysis of consumer perceptions. 

Moreover, there are also, different factors affecting RFID adoption at country, industry and organisational level. Here, some of the organisational factors will be mentioned. There are some benefits such us better inventory, security, cost (Bhattacharya et al., 2008); opportunities like advance development and industry chain, market size, logistic growth, manufactoring level; there are also some challenges: business environment, business model and nature of adoption (Lai et al., 2005). 

The following is a list of industries that are currently implementing RFID:

Aerospace

Apparel

Automotive

Chemical

CPG

Defense

Health Care

Labeling

Logistics

Manufacturing

Packaging

Pharmaceuticals

Retail

Transport

One of the sources that can be useful to keep updated in regards to the RFID implementation news and so fourth is the RFID Journal www.rfidjournal.com where you can find the latest news about companies who are implementing RFID; it also includes RFID products and features, tools & resources, articles, events, etc.

As RFID has been implemented in many countries and different markets and industries, this map shows the RFID Deployment Worldwide. You can visit http://www.rfidjournalevents.com/map.php and chose any country, it will immediately tell you the city, the industry and details of the company that is implementing the RFID system.