RFID Asset Tracking and Visibility - What Is It & How Does It Work?
Updated: Jan 22
Asset tracking software for commercial use has witnessed a significant increase in the last few decades, which is unsurprising. After all, relying on pen and paper or Excel spreadsheets to manage, monitor, and track physical assets – such as IT equipment, trucks, portable tools, machinery, inventories, or even workers – is a suboptimal approach for reducing errors.
Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) has become a must-have tracking tool for organisations that rely heavily on their assets, thanks to the technological growth of the Internet of Things (IoT). The capacity to connect physical assets to data-collecting tools such as Asset Tracking Software has proven nothing short of revolutionary, from tracking airline bags to increasing security in retail outlets.
Radio-Frequency Identification, or RFID, is a technology that, despite its long history, has come to play a significant part in asset-tracking software. The global use of asset monitoring technologies has peaked in the recent 20 years across the commercial world. Manufacturing, Logistics, Retail, and Healthcare are leading the way.
RFID asset tracking has proven to be a 'go-to' technology for companies striving to manage their revenue-critical assets. It makes sense because it reduces labour time and allows real-time location tracking.
But what exactly is RFID, why has it become so important in physical asset management, and what else should businesses know about this technology?
What is RFID?
As a company that depends on the availability of high-value assets to generate income, you realise the significance of asset tracking and good inventory management. Whether it's inventory, tools, IT equipment, cars, or even personnel.
Although there are numerous alternatives for simplifying the process of monitoring and tracking assets, there is one tracking technology that provides perfect efficiency at the lowest possible cost: RFID. RFID has gradually become much more commonly accepted for the tracking of physical 'things' as it has matured over the succeeding decades.
RFID asset tracking is a method of automating the management and location of physical assets. It entails loading data onto an RFID tag and attaching it to a relevant object. The data can include information about the asset's name, condition, cost, and location, among other things.
An RFID tag emits pulsing radio waves that an RFID reader uses to read the data stored on the tag. This data can then be compiled in an asset tracking system, which enables data monitoring and action.
The capacity to automate your tracking and monitoring operations seeks to eliminate the very error-prone methods of pen-and-paper and excel spreadsheets. Among the additional advantages are:
Keeping track of several assets at the same time
removing all human intervention
Real-time data collection
Enhancing asset visibility
locating missing or lost goods
Inventory correctness should be maximised.
How does RFID asset tracking work?
The fundamental principles behind RFID asset monitoring are reasonably constant across a wide range of applications. The basic concepts of how an RFID tracking system works are quite similar whether it is used in agriculture to track livestock or in a warehouse to monitor a manufacturer's supply chain. First, you'll need the right tools:
RFID Tags (Passive, Active, or Semi-Passive)