Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 2. Application areas of RFID
managing production of different versions
of same product.
pressed gas cylinders, manage small tools
and monitor equipment.
•
Supply chain management is yet another
important RFID application since it nar-
rows down information gaps by enabling
real-time supply chain visibility. Many
organizations at present make the most of
RFID to track products from their suppli-
ers to their distribution centers and ware-
houses. The ability of RFID to precisely
record product movement comes in handy
for theft prevention, product recall and an-
ti-counterfeiting in supply chain.
Consumer Applications
Following are a few consumer based applications
for which RFID has been put to use for:
•
RFID is catching up as a convenient pay-
ment system, thus making life easier for
consumers. It is used to pay for road tolls
without forcing the cars to stop; for bus,
subway and even train fares. Cities like
Boston, Washington DC, Seoul have re-
placed magnetic stripe cards with RFID
cards since it allows more people to pass
through turnstiles faster and also reduces
congestion. MasterCard and Visa also
utilize RFID cards and key fobs for mall
payments that are usually made by cash.
ExxonMobil, an RFID enabled system al-
lows drivers to pay for gas automatically
by just waving their key fobs in front of
a reader that is built into the gas pump
(Anonymous, 2005, p.1).
•
Retailers such as Wal-Mart, Best Buy,
Tesco and Metro have adopted RFID to
improve their supply chain efficiency and
make sure that products are well stocked
and available to customers at all times.
Retailers can track products, trace them
through stores or even customers and re-
call them easily with RFID, as they will be
able to know exactly which products were
bad or defected and harmful to consumers
(Anonymous, 2005, pp.2-3).
•
RFID is even used in construction and
companies have also figured out that the
technology can be used to track com-
•
RFID devices act as electronic keys to al-
low access into governmental buildings,
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