I work in the poultry industry, which is suffering many hidden costs due to the loss of shipments. Can RFID technology help track each basket a company has in its inventory. The transport of these goods is conducted by road to various destinations around our country. Can RFID track the baskets to make sure they arrive and are then returned? I have attached a photo for your reference.
—Sandra (Pereira, Colombia)
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Dear Sandra,
It would be fairly easy to track the baskets with radio frequency identification. The chickens’ bodies contain water, however, so ultrahigh-frequency (UHF) energy would be absorbed by the water, thus limiting read range.
To overcome this obstacle, you would need to apply an RFID tag to each basket at a spot where it would not come into contact with the chicken. It appears, from the photo, that some of the baskets have concave areas. Such areas would be ideal for tagging, since the tags would be protected from damage when the baskets banged into one another.
Another option would be to obtain tags encased in plastic, like a credit card, and have them hang from the sides of the basket with a wire. You would likely be able to read the tags from 10 feet away or more (if you use UHF tags), which should be sufficient to track them as they move through a processing facility and the supply chain.
Yours,
—Mark Roberti, Editor, RFID Journal