Technology
RFID in the Warehouse: From Pilot to Plant-Wide Rollout
Tag selection, read-zone design and ERP integration lessons from industrial asset tracking deployments.
A successful RFID pilot does not guarantee a successful rollout. The gap between the two is almost always integration.
Tag selection comes first. Metal-mounted assets need on-metal tags; high-cycle tools need ruggedized tags. The wrong tag turns a 99% read rate into a 70% read rate overnight.
Read-zone design is next. Portal antennas, overhead antennas and shelf readers each solve a different visibility problem. Mixing them without a plan creates blind spots.
Finally, ERP integration. Tag reads are only useful when they update inventory, location and status in real time. A standalone RFID dashboard that nobody checks is a pilot that never grew up.