Higher frequency RFID, RTLS-enabled asset management system tag shipments to grow by 40% by 2014
02 September, 2010
category: RFID
About 37 million higher-frequency RFID and RTLS-enabled asset tracking and asset management tags are expected to ship this year but that’s expected to grow to nearly 150 million by 2014. That equates to a compound annual growth rate from 2010 to 2014 of more than 40%, according to a new study released by ABI Research. Revenues are expected to reach $845 million in four years.
In its study, “RFID and RTLS-enabled Asset Tracking and Management,” ABI provides an analysis and assessment of specific applications for asset tracking and asset management, focusing on passive UHF, active RFID, and RTLS-enabled solutions.
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) showed 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.
“The basic function of asset tracking is to answer the question, ‘Where has my stuff been?'” says ABI’s 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…are showing the fastest and strongest growth in the use of RFID systems.”