from Neil Matthews, md, Checkpoint Systems UK
Sir; The Grocer is to be congratulated for its fair and balanced reporting of the RFID debate (‘The smart way to do business’, January 17, p30). This feature looked at the benefits of the technology in terms of cost saving and its ability to help retailers and manufacturers keep one step ahead of stringent health and safety regulations. Both have got to be good news for the consumer.
As a business involved in rolling out its own global RFID strategy, I was pleased The Grocer had not ‘set the hares racing’ by suggesting that the technology was further ahead than it was. Less responsible reporting has, in the past, created various levels of confusion and raised expectations among manufacturers, retailers and the general public of what RFID will do and when.
On one side of the argument you would think that RFID would end war and poverty, while at the other extreme we would all become extras in some Orwellian nightmare.
The truth is more prosaic and was reflected in your article. It rightly pointed out that the trials are at pallet, rather than item, level and highlighted the various caveats, not least its current cost and the perceived privacy issues that need to be addressed before the general public embrace it.
From our point of view we at Checkpoint Systems are looking forward to working with the big retailers and their suppliers on trialling and rolling out these initiatives. This is because we believe that RFID will benefit retailers and manufacturers once implemented across the total supply chain, providing that all parties collaborate to share both the costs and the benefits.
I believe item-level RFID tagging on anything apart from the most expensive items is unlikely to be with us before six to 10 years.
Sir; The Grocer is to be congratulated for its fair and balanced reporting of the RFID debate (‘The smart way to do business’, January 17, p30). This feature looked at the benefits of the technology in terms of cost saving and its ability to help retailers and manufacturers keep one step ahead of stringent health and safety regulations. Both have got to be good news for the consumer.
As a business involved in rolling out its own global RFID strategy, I was pleased The Grocer had not ‘set the hares racing’ by suggesting that the technology was further ahead than it was. Less responsible reporting has, in the past, created various levels of confusion and raised expectations among manufacturers, retailers and the general public of what RFID will do and when.
On one side of the argument you would think that RFID would end war and poverty, while at the other extreme we would all become extras in some Orwellian nightmare.
The truth is more prosaic and was reflected in your article. It rightly pointed out that the trials are at pallet, rather than item, level and highlighted the various caveats, not least its current cost and the perceived privacy issues that need to be addressed before the general public embrace it.
From our point of view we at Checkpoint Systems are looking forward to working with the big retailers and their suppliers on trialling and rolling out these initiatives. This is because we believe that RFID will benefit retailers and manufacturers once implemented across the total supply chain, providing that all parties collaborate to share both the costs and the benefits.
I believe item-level RFID tagging on anything apart from the most expensive items is unlikely to be with us before six to 10 years.
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