Wal-Mart has long advised its customers to keep a close eye on price cuts on its products, and today this world's largest retailer is following price cuts ... on radio frequency identification systems (RFID tags). At the end of last year, she announced the mandatory transition of her stores to the RFID tag system. Since then, the price of RFID tags has halved, which, according to the company's specialists, will lead to a revolution in the world of retail and a complete change in supply chains. The largest Wal-Mart vendors were asked to switch to RFID tags in their packages as early as next January. Suppliers of this largest retailer strive to meet deadlines, creating a real boom in the RFID tag market. According to some analysts, Wal-Mart alone will need a billion RFID tags soon a year, and the demand for these tiny devices will only grow. Other large retailers and some government agencies now require their partners to attach RFID tags to all types of packaging. So, in November last year, the US Department of Defense approved a new identification system at the federal level, requiring its suppliers to install RFID tags on industrial parts and pallets.

For many years, Intel has been promoting RFID tags and sensor systems and creating the appropriate infrastructure. Intel is developing RFID tag reader devices, RFID tag motion detectors and new usage patterns, such as home medical systems, and is also working to improve the efficiency of the supply chain. A good example of the activity that the corporation has shown in the development of the new technology is one of the latest developments of the employees of the Intel Research Center in Seattle - a pocket reading device for RFID tags and a special reading glove. The RFID handheld scanner, which allows users to easily and easily handle RFID tags, has aroused great interest around the world, and Intel researchers are now working closely with a number of electronic components companies in the development of RFID daughter cards and low-cost reading kits.

There are not many technologies that bring with them drastic changes, but RFID tags and electronic product codes, in the unanimous opinion of experts, undoubtedly fall into this category. Their use will affect all business processes, regardless of place in the value chain and will inevitably replace traditional barcode technology. Using RFID tags, suppliers and retailers and wholesalers, warehouses and terminals will be able to obtain more complete and timely information on all stages of the process of moving material, information and transport flows, and all this thanks to RFID tags.