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What are RFID tags? Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags or Smart Labels are the revolutionary technology that will replace bar codes. RFID tags use radio waves rather than optical scans to provide inventory awareness and monitoring. The least expensive RFID tags currently cost around 15¢ each, but are expected to go down in price to about 5¢ in a few years. Today's RFID tags still have two major restrictions:
RFID is, however, a very exciting technology that has the power to reduce supply chain and retail costs in the very near term. RespectRFID is superior to all RFID alternatives, and has neither of these limitations. What is RespectRFID? RespectRFID, designed by Henry and Tom Lahore, is an RFID system which will revolutionize retail and manufacturing item awareness. RespectRFID leverages a unique combination of existing technologies to monitor the location of millions of local RFID tags, in real-time, to provide continuous inventory awareness - virtually eliminating the theft of tagged items. RespectRFID, which consists of both tags and monitoring devices, is the only system with this comprehensive set of features. RespectRFID tags are a better cost/value proposition The initial installed price for RespectRFID tagging is estimated to be $1 per item, which, while 3 times greater than the cost of the cheapest existing RFID tags, will provide at least 10 times the benefit by extending the reach of RFID technologies to the per item level. The RespectRFID tag is designed to be assembled automatically, so the cost is expected to reach 30¢ per tag in volume production. We anticipate that many stores will only apply RFID of any type to their more expensive or high-theft goods. Bar codes are expected to continue to be used along with RFID tags by most stores for the foreseeable future due to the cost of installing and using any RFID system. RespectRFID combines the best features of current RFID products and barcodes, while adding numerous other benefits. The RFID supply chain market is hot! Since the summer of 2003, WalMart, the Department of Defense, Target, and several large non-US organizations have stated that their top 100 suppliers must have RFID tags on all pallets delivered after 2005. RFID is a common-sense advance of existing supply chain technology. Advantages of RFID:
Unfortunately, investors are not certain that the above benefits of conventional RFID will justify the costs incurred through their implementation. RespectRFID improves supply chain return on investment RespectRFID improves supply chain ROI by adding the following benefits:
Expect more from RFID Many organizations aspire to have RFID tags on all individual items in their inventory, but until RespectRFID, RFID tags had no anti-theft features, and did not provide great additional benefit if applied on a per-item basis. RespectRFID makes per-item tagging feasible. Although there are many ways to steal items in a store that has conventional RFIDs (which can be read at a maximum range of 2 meters), items protected by RespectRFID tags are continuously monitored throughout the building and are virtually impossible to steal. FDA and RFID In February of 2004 the US Food and Drug Administration announced that after 2005 the application of RFID technology will be required for shipment of those drugs which have been a target for counterfeiting and theft. While existing RFIDs can only detect when an entire pallet of shipped goods has been stolen or inserted during a particular link in the supply chain, only RespectRFID will be able to sound a silent alarm when individual items are stolen or tampered with. Homeland Security The Department of Homeland Security is investigating the use of RFID to reduce the terrorist threats of food contamination and bombs in imported goods. Here too, existing RFIDs can only provide a fraction of the protection of RespectRFID. As of March 2004, Homeland Security has not mandated RFID. Projected supply chain RFID market During the fall of 2003 and the winter of 2004, four independant projections have been made indicating that by 2009 the RFID market will be between $1.3 billion and $3.5 billion annually, primarily due to sales of supply chain RFIDs at the pallet level. There are approximately 50 companies making RFID tags in 2004, and there are over 30 RFID startups in Silicon Valley. RespectRFID is the only RFID for retail The market for RFIDs on retail items will be much larger than that for RFIDs in the supply chain, and RespectRFID is the only system which can be applied to this market. RespectRFID is the only technology able to stop theft and the only technology able to provide instant inventory monitoring. Details on how RespectRFID greatly reduces shoplifting and theft. We anticipate that, in less than a decade, 10% of retail sales ($300 Billion for just US sales) will be RFID tagged, probably by RespectRFID. Buy or license RespectRFID There are a number of RFID suppliers, and many very large companies have thrown their hats in the RFID ring since the WalMart/DoD announcements. Some of the companies currently interested in RFID are Microsoft, IBM, Intel, SAP, NCR, Oracle, and NEC. None of these large organizations are anticipating that a significant fraction of their income will come from RFID sales. They see RFID as an enabler for their current product, generally software or hardware. We believe, to the contrary, that there are substantial benefits to rethinking the limitations of RFID, and that a large market will be made available by doing so. RespectRFID is the superior RFID solution! RespectRFID quick links Privacy is Respected while providing benefits to customers Technology description for technologists - to clear up some misunderstandings Disruptive technology RespectRFID can disrupt Retail, but not Supply Chains RespectRFID Market Analysis Best market = Item-level tagging in retail Wal-Mart ROI estimate $2B additional profit - after all RFID expenses MWROI estimated ROI less than one year for retailer which is 1% the size of Wal-Mart
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