Higher Frequency RFID and RTLS-enabled Asset Management System Revenues Forecast to Reach $845 Million in 2014

This year, roughly 37 million higher-frequency RFID and RTLS-enabled asset tracking and asset management tags are expected to ship. But in 2014, such shipments will total almost 150 million, according to a new study released by ABI Research. The compound annual growth rate (CAGR) for 2010-2014 is more than 40%.
�The basic function of asset tracking is to answer the question, �Where has my stuff been?�� says practice director Michael Liard. �Asset management, based on Real-Time Location (RTLS) technologies, refines that question to �Where�s my stuff right now?� Some new systems even add sensors, allowing the additional question, �How are my assets?� Most industries need answers to these questions, but aerospace and defense, automotive manufacturing, commercial services, and non-CPG/industrial manufacturing are showing the fastest and strongest growth in the use of RFID systems.�

During the recent global recession, businesses have continued to realize that optimizing their Return on Assets (ROA) and eliminating unnecessary asset investment is critical. As a result, the adoption of RFID and RTLS-enabled asset tracking and management solutions continues to grow at an impressive rate across verticals and regions.

A recent ABI Research survey of 80 RFID end-user organizations (excluding those with no interest in RFID, and those using it for item-level retail tracking or people tracking in healthcare) surprisingly revealed that 65% of respondents were piloting, deploying, or had already deployed an RFID-based asset tracking and/or management system. This was a higher percentage than those using RFID in its traditional areas of strength, access control and supply chain management.

Perhaps that should not be surprising after all, considering such systems� stellar ROI performance, with many break-even points measured in months, not years. �Most people assume the savings will be in �soft money�: the ability to reduce employees� time spent on this kind of work,� notes Liard. �But deployments that have been carried through to completion are delivering surprising returns in �hard� money: lower CAPEX and less inventory �shrinkage�.�