Do you have any estimates for the return on investment that a company can attain from tracking assets with RFID versus using bar codes?
—Lee (Dubai, United Arab Emirates)
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RFID Journal has created an ROI calculator for apparel retailers (see RFID Fashion Retail ROI Calculator). We were able to do this because the University of Arkansas’ RFID Research Center studied how long it took to take inventory with and without RFID.
We would love to be able to create an ROI calculator for asset tracking, but it is simply impossible. There is a huge difference between tracking mobile medical equipment in a hospital, parts bins or tools in a manufacturing facility, shipping containers in a port and returnable transport items in a distribution center.
I will say that in most of the asset-tracking applications I have seen, RFID usually delivers a return on investment in around 12 to 18 months. This is true across many industries and types of assets.
—Mark Roberti, Editor, RFID Journal