Advantages of RFID over Barcodes for Asset Management

For any business, asset management is essential. Some businesses still use barcodes for asset management, but many businesses are now switching to RFID technology, due to the many advantages it presents over barcoding.

Benefits of RFID for Asset Management

1. No necessity for a line of sight

With barcodes, a scanner with a direct line of sight to the barcode is necessary, as well as needing a close proximity. RFID differs from this as it has no need for a line of sight, and the range at which RFID can be scanned is far greater than barcoding. RFID handheld and fixed readers can scan tagged items at a distance of 5-15 metres, depending on the tag and environment. The fact that RFID does not need line of sight to read tags also means you can scan hundreds of tags per second, instead of one at a time.

2. Greater durability

Barcodes are susceptible to all sorts of damage, they can fall off, tear, smudge, and wrinkle, and all of these will affect whether the barcode can be read. This means for many assets, barcodes are not sufficiently robust and not suitable for tracking. RFID is far more durable, and tags can be designed to suit any requirements. RFID tags can be used to track assets in bad weather conditions, assets that must be wiped with chemicals, and can even be used to track livestock.

3. Ability to be rewritten

Once printed, a barcode cannot be rewritten. RFID can be rewritten to hold whatever data the redundant data is to be replaced with, and this can be done repeatedly. This means RFID tags can be reusable, saving you money and improving sustainability.

4. Increased security

RFID tags can hold more information than barcodes and the data held on them can be encrypted. This is beneficial for security as the data on an RFID tag is harder to retrieve and decode than on a barcode.

5. Serialised assets

Barcodes are typically limited to 20 characters, where RFID can hold up to 100 times more than that if necessary. This means that RFID can allow for serialized assets, which is beneficial for asset tracking. Serialization means you can track things like the status or location of an item much more easily, as each asset is uniquely identified.

Implementing RFID requires careful planning and implementation, which is where TEC-RFID can help. We can assist in determining whether RFID is suitable for your business and help develop a plan to implement this. We can advise on every aspect of your Asset Management requirements, from hardware to software. TEC-RFID are RFID specialists, having RFID accreditation with Zebra.

Please contact us and our team will be able to advise you further.