Rumors of RFID's death are greatly exaggerated

You may not be hearing much about it right now, but that doesn't mean that the RFID revolution has fizzled out. Companies in a variety of sectors have been busily outfitting their DCs with tags and readers, Toby Rush, president of Rush Tracking Systems, told his audience in an educational session at the CSCMP conference. But because these are largely internal strategic applications designed to give the user a competitive edge, you're unlikely to hear much about them.

What makes a company a good candidate for RFID? According to Rush, the businesses most likely to see big gains are those that operate complex supply chains with significant materials movement and human involvement; that have vertically integrated operations (meaning they "own" multiple supply chain processes); that are large and geographically dispersed; that operate in highly regulated industries; and that are growing, capacity-strained organizations.