Radio frequency identifi cation (RFID) technology is a wireless communication
technology that enables users to uniquely identify tagged objects or people.
RFID is rapidly becoming a cost-effective technology. This is in large part
due to the efforts of Wal-Mart and the Department of Defense (DoD) to
incorporate RFID technology into their supply chains. In 2003, with the aim
of enabling pallet-level tracking of inventory, Wal-Mart issued an RFID
mandate requiring its top suppliers to begin tagging pallets and cases, with
Electronic Product Code (EPC) labels. The DoD quickly followed suit and
issued the same mandate to its top 100 suppliers. This drive to incorporate
RFID technology into their supply chains is motivated by the increased ship-
ping, receiving and stocking effi ciency and the decreased costs of labor, storage,
and product loss that pallet-level visibility of inventory can offer.
