RFID vs Barcode Technology in Business Asset Tracking

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This is a guest post by Tom. We’re going in a slightly different direction from normal for this blog and talking about the use of two different kinds of asset tracking technology in the business world. All companies need to audit their fixed assets (equipment, computers, vehicles, containers, furniture, etc) for accounting purposes.  Traditionally this has been done using barcode tags and scanners but in recent years Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology has come into play, allowing remote tracking and auditing.

Physically auditing and creating an accurate inventory of assets is a time consuming process that can be disruptive and pull valuable employees from their normal job.  Implementing some form of automated solution can dramatically reduce the time and man-power required to keep track of your assets and provide better visibility.  One automated solution implemented by many companies is barcode scanning.  Barcode labels are easy to produce, relatively cheap, and suitable for a variety of environments.  Vinyl or polyester labels offer good resistance to heat, cold, moisture and UV light and metal labels can be developed for more hazardous environments or industrial requirements.  Handheld barcode scanners are also simple to use, highly portable and very affordable.

Image credit: Marco Ro

Many consider RFID (radio-frequency identification) to be the future, claiming that traditional bar-coding will soon become obsolete. RFID technology has been around for about 50 years or so, but it’s only recently come to the fore as the cost of scanning devices and tags continues to drop.   Both RFID tags and barcodes carry information about products and both work very well, however, the two technologies bring their own advantages, disadvantages and benefits.

In theory, RFID asset tracking technology could allow you to walk into a room with tagged assets and inventory items and perform a complete physical audit in a matter of seconds!  A full audit of all fixed assets and inventory items spread across numerous buildings, floors and rooms could be completed within a very short time because RFID readers do not require a direct line of sight to either active RFID tags or passive RFID tags.

Using barcodes speeds up the inventory process and makes it more accurate than the manual alternative, but Barcode-based systems need labels in line of sight and each asset has to be scanned individually. In addition, barcodes must be physically located so they are viewable and easy to read, unless of course you don’t mind personnel crawling under desks to physically locate and view the tag when using a barcode process.

Using an RFID tag would allow you to read the tag through the desk without even seeing it and indeed many handheld RFID readers can read up to 20 tags or more simultaneously.  RFID tags can be read at much greater distances than barcodes – typically distances up to 300 feet – while the range limitation for a barcode is around 15 feet.  You cannot add to the information written on a printed barcode (no read/write capability) whereas RFID tags and the RFID reader can communicate and alter as much of the information as the tag design will allow.

RFID is therefore probably a superior all round technology, but RFID tags are certainly pricier than barcode labels.  Overall, RFID is certainly more expensive than conventional methods of fixed asset tracking, however, from the perspectives of time savings, accuracy and convenience RFID solutions represent a superb ROI.

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About the author:
Tom is a blogger currently working for a company specialising in software for managing fixed assets. He is fascinated by how new technology can be cleverly applied to real life situations.

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