The Next BIG Technology Advancement

The next big technology that is soon to come is going to be a solution that will help eliminate all theft (shop lifting) and inventory loses. This same technology will help stores with making the checkout processes easier and faster; as well for all of us that hate waiting in those endless lines at the store.

So what is this technology? And how does it work? How much will is cost? What is the impact?

There was an article in the news paper a few months back that stated that stores were looking to place RFID tags into items to help with inventory and theft prevention. But as you read the article you could tell that the writer had no idea what he was saying in stating that "the technology could be used to track you and invade your privacy."

The fact is this technology is not for tracking people as all. The technology is only used in the store and as soon as you purchase the product as the cash register, the RFID tags will be deactivated.

What are these RFID tags? Where will they be placed? These RFIDs can be the size of a strand of hair. They will be used to uniquely identify the items it is placed in or on. For example they can be placed in toys, games, clothes, shoes, CDs, any thing and everything non-editable. And for those things that are editable the tags will be place on or around those items. Like on a sticker on a piece of fruit or a bag of bread and in the tub of butter (embedded in the plastic).

The Tag its self reads just like a barcode, but it has a lot more information associated with it. The Code is just a simple number that can categorize the item the size, color, price, make, brand, manufacture, expiration date, etc.

Manufacturing
All Manufactures would need to change their labeling on their products to allow for the insertion/embedding of this thread it be one more fiber added to clothing or a bag. Just like the Bar codes that are on all sales items today.
These manufactures would need two more major pieces of equipment besides the actual fiber. First is the reader as the assembly line. The reader would detect is the thread is inserts into the item and also inventory the item and add all information to the database. The second reader would scan items being shipped out . this would date the logs on what, when, to whom and how much was shipped.

How does the RFID work?
The tags are placed in the item within the store, can be read at all times by a scanner “RFID reader”. The RFID reader sends out a signal to the RFID tags to provide power to the RFID chip inside and then the chip will reply to the reader with the RFID information. The Reader/s is fully capable of reading hundreds of thousand of tags at a single time. The tags all read back to the reader a Code. This code would then in turn reference a data base that states how much inventory was taken in and sold or taken out, etc.

All of this data can be used to order more products or keep track of inventory for the store.

Checkout
Checking out couldn’t be any easier and faster. All you would have to do is walk right up to the register and the scanners there would detect everything in the cart and on the person that was not purchased. And then a item list would be displayed and the total. The customer could see any amounts that didn’t look right and tell the cashier to make any changes necessary.

Theft control
These scanners located at all entrances to the store are set to track all products that has not been inventoried (new product to be added to inventory) or not purchased (items in inventory yet to be sold) and purchased (Items removed from inventory that was purchased by the customer).

So the door checkers would solely have the position to stop theft only and not waste time stopping honest customers.

All new inventory that was received by the trucks could be scanned before the trucks were unloaded into the store and or scanned once they were in the building as new inventory and then registered as stock or active sale.

Summary
This in the technology that will be the next big thing that will change the market place as we know it. The big players that I would see using this technology first would be Wal-Mart and all the larger companies like Sam’s club, BJ’s, and Costco. This would help to keep the costs low and products even lower. This would save tons in man hours used to count inventory in the store. This would help speed up the checkout lines at the register. And last but not least stop all theft.

This is the technology that I think will be the future. What do you think?