RFID Journal Staff asked 7 years ago Can you please explain what problems we should anticipate having to deal with?
—Thando
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Thando,
I'm not sure I know enough about your industry to answer your question. If you are thinking of using RFID to manage your inventory of raw packaging that ends up being printed, you could tag bundles as they came in or ask your suppliers to tag those bundles—which would be even better for you. The bundles would need to be tagged and stacked in such a way that the tags would be readable. You could either have overhead readers interrogate the tags all of the time, or have a worker read all tags once at the end of each day and set up software to automatically reorder packaging that fell below a certain threshold you set.
There are a few issues you would need to address before deciding whether to implement such a system. The biggest one, of course, would be whether the system would deliver sufficient value to make it worth the cost. How much time and expense are you currently committing to performing inventory counts manually? Are there times when production is delayed due to insufficient inventory being in stock? Do you lose money because a line remains inactive while you wait for materials to arrive? Have you lost customers due to an inability to deliver orders in a timely manner? If the answer to any or all of these questions is "yes," then RFID might be the answer. You would need to estimate the lost revenue per year and then ascertain the cost of using RFID.
Another thing to consider is the facility in which the RFID system will operate. Can you set up the system so that tags would be read consistently and you would get good data, enabling you to resolve the issues described above? If you can make the system work, and if the savings from using RFID will offset the costs within 18 to 24 months, then it probably makes sense to deploy an RFID solution. If you need assistance in locating a company that can help you answer these questions and deploy a solution, please let me know.
—Mark Roberti, Founder and Editor, RFID Journal
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