RFID Implemented Worldwide

RFID is being adopted worldwide but with very great differences of emphasis as revealed by recent research by the IDTechEx Knowledgebase of over 2,450 case studies in 92 countries. This is a tale of four, very different continents.

North America is by far the largest market for value, number of tags and number of case studies of RFID in action. This is almost entirely due to the USA, with its massive orders for military RFID and widespread adoption in all sectors.

The primary applications differ greatly between the continents, however the financial, security, and safety sectors dominate the use of RFID overall.

The largest use of RFID technology in both the public and private sectors is gained through cards and card-like structures such as ID badges and flat key fobs.

Tag Format

The most popular form of RFID tag is unquestionably in the format of labels, which has seen massive implementation over the last couple of years. The second-most popular tag format is smart cards, followed by RFID buttons, such as those used to tag cattle.

Tag Location

Alternatively, by looking at where the tag is placed, you can gain more of a feel of the immediate use of RFID tags. Contrary to popular opinion, RFID tag location is most common at item level, from books to jewellery and apparel, and not pallet and case. Only in North America is pallet and case tagging in the ascendancy, and then only in the number numbers of RFID projects, and not the money spent – which has been little more than $100 million under the retail mandates.

Once again, the money spent on item level tagging has greatly exceeded the money spent on pallet and case tagging this year. Surprisingly, the tagging of people, which occurs in marathon races, hospitals, prisons and so on, is just ahead of animal tagging in Australasia.

In conclusion it seems that the use of RFID technology is likely to continue increasing on a global scale as organisations and companies alike strive to find reliable, easy to use systems for access control and monitoring purposes.