RFID will grow in logistics

RFID will grow in logistics Look for growing use of radio frequency identification technology in the logistics business over the next five years, ABI Research said.
   The New York-based research group notes that four applications — access control, animal ID, automobile immobilization and electronic toll collection — account for 59 percent of global RFID revenue.
   Within five years their share of the market is expected to drop to about 45 percent, while applications for security, contactless payments, supply chain management, and high-value asset tracking grow.
   In the supply chain business, “after a major ramp-up to meet Wal-Mart and U.S. Department of Defense deadlines in 2005, the passive UHF compliance market has slowed somewhat over the last 18 months,” ABI said.
   “However, mid- to long-term growth expectations remain positive. Bolstered by the recent announcement from Metro, the anticipated continued progress of Wal-Mart and the DoD, expected non-compliance-based pallet and case tagging pilots and deployments, and burgeoning item-level opportunities from fashion apparel to consumer electronics to pharmaceuticals, supply chain management is expected to capture an additional 3 percent revenue market share over the next five years,” said ABI
   The firm also foresees growing use of RFID for asset tracking and management within a number of vertical markets that include manufacturing (spare parts and tool tracking for example), health care (medical devices, equipment, personnel, and patient tracking), transportation/logistics (returnable transport items), and corporate IT environments (e.g., laptops, servers).