RFID technology is definitely on the radar of Canada’s big players in the retail and manufacturing sectors, according to the ‘2004 Canadian Radio Frequency Identification Study (RFID)‘, a new report from Deloitte, which polled senior ranking executives within the top 30 retail and consumer product companies in Canada.
While only 14% of those who participated in the study stated that RFID technology had already been implemented to some degree within their company, nearly all said they believe RFID will have some impact on their company (93%). Interestingly, all of the respondents from retail companies stated they believe the technology will have an impact on their company.
A majority of respondents (71%) revealed they have already taken active steps with consideration to implementing RFID technology (including 43% who stated their company has researched the technology).
Nearly half of respondents(47%) indicated a strong likelihood of their company implementing an RFID system. Of those that indicated that they were likely to implement RFID, 50% believe they will implement an RFID system within two years, while 29% believe they will implement RFID within three to four years.
Respondents mentioned a variety of benefits they felt an RFID system could offer. The most commonly perceived benefit was better control inventory (23%), while the second most common perceived benefit was the tracking of goods in shipment/transit (20%). Lower costs, better accuracy and better operational performance were other cited benefits.
The most common planned function was loading and unloading within a distribution centre.
