- RFID: Technology that uses radio waves to encode and store data in transponders. EPC: Uses a string of numbers to identify manufacturer, product, and a unique serial number for each item unit. This string of numbers is engraved on the RFID tag chip.
What do and what do RFID and EPC do?
RFID tags are labels that can contain barcodes. In addition, they have embedded a chip and an antenna that allow more information to be contained, standardized by EPCglobal, an organization that includes a single standard in a protocol that will be the technical manual to create all the products that will be used with this technology. That is, it standardizes the labels, the information contained, the readers to be used, etc.
These labels (which contain the chip), emit radio signals with a unique and unrepeatable identifier that will be read when passing through the receiving antennas. The information read may or may not travel through the EPCglobal global network and can be compared against any database and will allow, among other things, to manage an online stock, as well as to verify replacement points or misplaced merchandise in the gondolas and even consumer tastes. We will be able to obtain an infinity of complementary information, associating the EPC number with a database.
The RFID EPC will allow to have a precise follow-up of each product, without the need for reading through visual contact, as is necessary with the barcode. In this way, the movement of each product will be known, and at what exact moment there was a shortage, thanks to the simultaneous reading of all the products transported and delivered in each load or unload.
Although the current value of labels is high, work is already underway to reduce their cost. There are companies that are already offering them at less than US $ 0.05 per unit. Gillette bought 500 million of these smart tags at that value.
On the other hand, this technology is already used by the United States Department of Defense, Ahold and Carrefour. Wal-Mart is using it only for its inventories, and the German chain Metro is also using it in one of its supermarkets.
We can conclude by making a comparison between RFID and the Bar Code:
| RFID | Barcode |
| You do not need to point to the label to read it. | You need to have the Bar Code visible. |
| Simultaneous label reading. | Read one by one. |
| The information of the labels is lifted is in any condition. | Indispensable that the label is not torn or dirty. |
| Operator intervention is minimal. | Operator intervention is necessary |
| The labels are rewritable. | They are used one time only. |
RFID is the technology that will allow keeping all the information updated online, combining it with EPC, avoiding the manipulation of the products, obtaining a total traceability in the event of setbacks and many more benefits.
For all the above, we can say that this technology of the future is already within our reach to simplify our work, and why not, our way of life.
