About RFID - and it's adoption in Canada

Introduction

RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) is a breakthrough technology in the field of wireless communications. Since its invention, it has found numerous applications. It is used by individuals, commercial establishments and even for military purposed. It is essentially used for detection and tracking purpose. RFID has revolutionized supply chain management. Big organizations like Wal Mart use it in its warehouses and stores to track movement of products until it is sold to the consumer.

Fundamentals of RFID

RFID relies on communication on radio frequency. A chip which can transmit and/or receive radio frequency waves is attached to the item or individual whose location needs to be read. Radio Frequency readers are mounted at strategic locations on the path where the individual or product is likely to move. As soon as the tagged item comes in the range of the readers, their location is read and the back end system is accordingly updated. Hence, if a product moves out from warehouse, then the reader mounted near the exit doors read the item. The item status is then updated accordingly.

RFID in Canada

Canada is one of the most industrialized nations in the world. No doubt, it is one of the leaders using new technologies such as the RFID. A dedicated research center, named as Canadian RFID Centre has been set up to research RFID and explore usage of RFID in Canada. Accordingly many companies have mushroomed across the country to provide RFID implementation related services. Various Canadian government agencies are using RFID for applications as varied as hazardous waste management.

RFID adoption by Canadian companies

Many Fortune 500 companies have adopted RFID in Canada. Among them Wal Mart, Canada is the biggest company to embrace it. It has embraced RFID to track movement of its products and also to ensure that any item doesn’t go out of stock at any of its store across the country. Studies suggest that it has reduced its out of stock items by 30% after implementing RFID. In fact, big retailers are asking their vendors to put RFID on their shipment. Such companies want that the goods be tracked even at the vendor site and before it reaches the warehouses. Hence, such Canadian retailers using RFID on large scale are making their vendors adopt RFID. Nearly 1000 vendor companies in Canada will have their own set up of RFID. So RFID would be used to track raw materials, intermediates and of course, the final product. Moreover, these vendor implementations will also share data with the retailer RFID set up. Canadian automobile industry is another big user of RFID tags and readers. Various automobile components are tagged until the final product is ready. Like big retailers, big auto companies are telling their vendors (auto component manufacturers) to become RFID enabled. Many Canadian companies have raised concerns regarding the cost of implementation. But, with enough critical mass, benefits will outweigh the costs in long term.

Many Canadian hospitals too have adopted RFID. Leading hospitals in Ontario, Ottawa and Toronto are using RFID to track costly medical equipments in the big hospital premises. RFID is also used to check for unauthorized entry in restricted areas. Even government and various state departments and agencies in Canada have implemented RFID. For instance, Ontario Public Library uses RFID. This way it checks that library DVDs, VCDs, Video Cassettes and books are not taken out of library without approval from the library staff. This ultimately prevents thefts from library.

Due to the big welcome given to the technology, many new companies have been set up. There are companies which manufacture variety of RFID tags and readers. Toronto has many software companies which help the RFID hardware integrated with the supply chain management software and other back end software. Many consultancies have started special RFID practice. The big cities like Toronto and Ontario also has office of independent RFID consultants. There are many who have also started raising issues on how RFID breaches individual privacy.

Privacy issues

Many consumer groups in Canada, like United States, have raised concerns about breach of privacy with usage of RFID. These groups say that RFID crosses the limits of individual privacy. Not every individual in Canada, like anywhere else, likes to be tagged or tracked by any system. Hence, this topic has attracted lot of media attention in Canada.

Canada has always shown agility in adopting new technologies and processes. In spite of some controversies, RFID has been accepted by various Canadian industries. With costs of tags coming down in future, we will see more adoption of RFID in Canada.