Supply Chains Become Another RFID Home Turf

Labor and supply shortages are impacting global supply chains, making it increasingly difficult to keep them running smoothly and efficiently. According to a growing number of industry experts, RFID can help meet these challenges by offering great solutions for end-customers and new business opportunities for system integrators and label converters.

What do Impinj and Zebra Technologies have in common? Both are key players in the RFID ecosystem, both maintain strong business relations with Tageos - and both recently released reports showing that RFID technology is very much in vogue in the world of supply chain, logistics and warehousing.

According to the report from Impinj and industry information service Supply Chain Dive (“Inventory, Labor, and Sustainability: How RFID Solves Today’s Supply Chain Challenges”), specific, urgent problems are very often the reason to have a closer look at RFID. 96% of respondents were worried about ongoing labor shortages. Nearly as many – 86% – said they were concerned about meeting their companies’ sustainability or carbon-emission goals. And 40% reported that inventory tracking problems were slowing order picking, as shipping and tracking challenges persist in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. The report surveyed supply chain professionals from a range of industries including warehousing, automobile manufacturing, and retail.

Overcoming supply chain challenges: RFID gets it done!

Impinj concludes that trying to do more with the same or fewer resources is an ongoing core challenge that shows no signs of abating. To meet this challenge, many supply chain professionals are focusing on the large-scale implementation of Internet of Things (IoT) technologies, such as RFID, which provide organizations with more advanced end-to-end supply chain visibility than ever before.

In numbers, this means, among other things:

  • 97% of those surveyed said their organization had already adopted or planned to adopt RFID, compared to 83% who answered the same question in the 2022 report;
  • 75% of respondents from organizations that had already implemented RFID said they were very or extremely confident in their ability to meet supply chain pressures in the next two years, given their current tech toolkit.

Seize the opportunity now: demand for RFID is on the rise

It fits into this picture that, according to RFID Journal, a new study by Zebra Technologies Corporation, “Making Modern Warehousing a Reality,” has found that 60% of warehouse managers surveyed intend to deploy RAIN RFID (UHF) at their facilities in the next five years. Globally, 73% of warehouse decision-makers have accelerated or will be accelerating timelines of modernization projects. Zebra Technologies commissioned this global research study among decision-makers and associates. Administered online by data specialist Azure Knowledge Corporation, this year's study includes over 1,400 respondents across manufacturing, retail, transportation, logistics, and wholesale distribution organizations.

One interesting finding relates specifically to the use of passive RFID inlays: while 44% of respondents in last year's study wanted to implement RFID, that number jumped to a whopping 81% in the current survey!

Tageos inlays: the recipe for strong supply chain resilience and high efficiency

Supply chain decision-makers seem to have realized that RFID applications in logistics directly lead to supply chain optimization: high-quality and high-performance RFID inlays and tags from Tageos have a huge impact on supply chain management and transparency as well as on supply chain process optimization.

A comprehensive portfolio of inlays is available for applications and use cases related to supply chain, logistics and warehousing, including those based on the latest generation of RAIN RFID ICs and those featuring the highest sustainability – our EOS Zero™ inlay family, made of fully recyclable paper to greatly reduce waste and fully avoid plastic consumption, and to help drive sustainability programs globally with features that continue to be industry-leading to this day:

  • Antennas and chips assembled on biodegradable FSC® certified paper;
  • 100% free of plastic, heavy metals and conflict minerals;
  • Ultra-low carbon and waste footprint;
  • Fully compliant with environmental, performance and quality certifications.

Want to learn more about our offerings for the logistics industry? Find the right product for your needs with our product selector and contact our sales team.