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RFID — A Candid Look At Its Current State And What's To Come By Jim Childress, LXE

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Article: RFID's Future

These days, we sometimes tend to develop unrealistic views of new technologies that promise to make our jobs easier, more productive, or just plain better. Some of the blame for this rests squarely with technology vendors that can be, shall we say, overly enthusiastic about selling the benefits of their products. But part of the reason is that new technologies tend to be complex and implementing them properly may require a fairly steep learning curve.

The fact is, new technologies simply offer us new tools that might help us do our jobs better but no single tool is going to solve all our problems. Such is the case with RFID. What's important -- even before you worry about whether or how to implement RFID -- is to properly define the problem you need to solve or the benefits you need to realize. Once the business process is clearly understood, you can evaluate RFID versus other technologies and, if RFID seems to be the best alternative, then delve deeper into the details.

While we tend to think of RFID as a "new" technology, it has been used in the commercial and consumer space for over 20 years. (And, yes, it goes back to the "friend or foe" transponders in WWII aircraft -- but that's a different story.) RFID was initially deployed in cattle feeding stations and for garage door openers; it was also used to identify and track vehicles, machine cutting tools and manufacturing trays and totes. The reason these applications were successful was because RFID was the best (or only) solution to the specific problem. And that should still be the case in any application today.

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Article: RFID's Future
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About Jim Childress
Jim Childress is a corporate vice president and is president and general manager of LXE Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of EMS Technologies, Inc. LXE is a leading manufacturer and provider of rugged computing systems and solutions that deliver mobility and improved productivity through wireless data collection in warehousing, distribution centers, ports, and intermodal facilities. Childress oversees the global operations of this fast-growing business, which has approximately 400 employees and annual revenues of $140 million.