We use cookies to provide you with a better experience. By continuing to browse the site you are agreeing to our use of cookies in accordance with our Cookie Policy.
  • ::COVID-19 COVERAGE::
  • INDUSTRY PRESS ROOM
  • ABOUT
  • CONTACT
  • MEDIA FILE
  • Create Account
  • Sign In
  • Sign Out
  • My Account
Free Newsletters
  • MAGAZINE
    • Current Issue
    • Archives
    • Digital Edition
    • Subscribe
    • Newsletters
    • Mobile Apps
  • TRANSPORTATION
  • MATERIAL HANDLING
  • TECHNOLOGY
  • LIFT TRUCKS
  • PODCAST ETC
    • Subscriptions
    • Podcast
    • Webcasts
    • Blogs
      • Analytics & Big Data
      • Best Practices
      • Change Me
      • Empowering Your Performance Edge
      • The Logistics of Defense
      • Logistics Problem Solving
      • One-Off Sound Off
      • Public Sector Logistics
      • Two Sides of the Logistics Coin
      • Submit your blog post
    • Events
    • White Papers
    • Industry Press Room
      • Upload Your News
    • New Products
      • Upload Your Product News
    • Conference Guides
    • Conference Reports
    • Newsletters
    • Mobile Apps
  • DCV-TV
    • DCV-TV 1: News
    • DCV-TV 2: Case Studies
    • DCV-TV 3: Webcasts
    • DCV-TV 4: Viewer Contributed
    • DCV-TV 5: Solution Profiles
    • MODEX 2020
    • Upload Your Video
  • MAGAZINE
    • Current Issue
    • Archives
    • Digital Edition
    • Subscribe
    • Newsletters
    • Mobile Apps
  • TRANSPORTATION
  • MATERIAL HANDLING
  • TECHNOLOGY
  • LIFT TRUCKS
  • PODCAST ETC
    • Subscriptions
    • Podcast
    • Webcasts
    • Blogs
      • Analytics & Big Data
      • Best Practices
      • Change Me
      • Empowering Your Performance Edge
      • The Logistics of Defense
      • Logistics Problem Solving
      • One-Off Sound Off
      • Public Sector Logistics
      • Two Sides of the Logistics Coin
      • Submit your blog post
    • Events
    • White Papers
    • Industry Press Room
      • Upload Your News
    • New Products
      • Upload Your Product News
    • Conference Guides
    • Conference Reports
    • Newsletters
    • Mobile Apps
  • DCV-TV
    • DCV-TV 1: News
    • DCV-TV 2: Case Studies
    • DCV-TV 3: Webcasts
    • DCV-TV 4: Viewer Contributed
    • DCV-TV 5: Solution Profiles
    • MODEX 2020
    • Upload Your Video
Home » cutting edge
big picture

cutting edge

February 1, 2003
Peter Bradley
No Comments

Five hundred million. That's a five followed by eight zeros, and it represents the number of radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags ordered by The Gillette Co. last month. At a time when many companies are just starting to investigate using RFID at the pallet and carton level, the Boston-based manufacturer of razors and other personal grooming products will begin testing its use at the item level this year.

It wasn't all that long ago that RFID tags were reserved for use on big objects like railcars.They were bulky and expensive, and the idea of tags small and cheap enough to use on individual items sou nded like something out of the next century. Well, now it is the next century and they're here.

Beginning this year, Gillette will be placing some of the tags on products distributed to select customers. It is an enormous, and enormously important, test of RFID technology. Gillette believes that the tags will make it possible to follow products through their life cycle from manufacturing through distribution to the point of sale. It hopes the technology will help reduce losses from theft or from stockouts. It expects that the technology will make its entire supply chain more efficient through the ability to obtain information on the status and location of its products, wherever they reside.

Gillette is buying the tags from Alien Technologies, a California-based company. These tags are small, measured in microns. Suspended in a fluid, they look to the naked eye like the flakes in a snow globe. Talk about big things in a small package!

RFID technology certainly has a ways to go before we'll see routine use of hundreds of millions of tags. But the development and acceptance of the technology—and breakthroughs that will allow high-speed manufacturing of millions of chips—are coming faster than anyone might have expected.

Longer ago than I'd like to admit, I spent some time as an order picker in a warehouse, rolling a cart along the aisles and scanning the shelves with my eyes (much sharper then) to find items listed on a paper pick list while I dodged the fork lift. Rare was the order that we shipped complete, and long was the time spent looking for items. When I see how far we've come and how fast things continue to change, it's a delight to speculate how far we may yet get to go.

Automatic Data Capture RFID
  • Related Articles

    AMETEK Prestolite Power Provides Cutting-Edge Charging Solutions for Omni-Channel Frontrunners

    Scanlog & ShipChain Team Up to Implement Cutting-Edge Track and Trace Platform across Global Network

Peterbradley
Peter Bradley is an award-winning career journalist with more than three decades of experience in both newspapers and national business magazines. His credentials include seven years as the transportation and supply chain editor at Purchasing Magazine and six years as the chief editor of Logistics Management.

Recent Articles by Peter Bradley

From temp to management: interview with Diane Garforth

Watching over intermodal's interests: interview with Joni Casey

Building resilience into the supply chain: interview with Yossi Sheffi

You must login or register in order to post a comment.

Report Abusive Comment

Most Popular Articles

  • A look into the future of robotics

  • A primer on warehouse robots

  • Roadrunner Freight bolsters LTL capabilities with $50 million in new backing

  • Southeastern Freight Lines Promotes Marty Cox to Service Center Manager in Cincinnati, Ohio

  • Pull back or go deeper—how the pandemic influenced shipper-3PL engagement

Now Playing on DCV-TV

9cddf77b a6f2 40d3 b603 004e451106fb

Dealing with Rapidly Rising Freight Costs

DCV-TV 4: Viewer Contributed
I don’t know if it’s because of our Two Minute Warnings, or the fact that shippers are experiencing the conditions we warned about in our Code Red webcasts, but lately, I’ve heard the same message from several C-Level and supply chain executives: Their companies are experiencing supply chain challenges and their...

FEATURED WHITE PAPERS

  • Special Report: Supply Chain Trends in Retail & Consumer Goods

  • Fortify Your Operational Resilience

  • Cold Storage Automation: Leveraging Advanced Technologies to Meet Increasing Demand

  • The modern warehouse: Maximizing productivity and capacity

View More

Subscribe to DC Velocity Magazine

GET YOUR FREE SUBSCRIPTION
  • SUBSCRIBE
  • NEWSLETTERS
  • ADVERTISING
  • CUSTOMER CARE
  • CONTACT
  • ABOUT
  • STAFF
  • PRIVACY POLICY

Copyright ©2021. All Rights ReservedDesign, CMS, Hosting & Web Development :: ePublishing