Controversial 2007 Prediction that RFID Would not Replace Bar Coding in the Supply Chain Still Proving Accurate More than 10 Years Later

It was more than 10 years ago, in the summer of 2007, that Ronan Clinton, then managing director of Heavey RF, an Irish mobile data collection system provider, wrote a blog post on the company's web site that caused a minor stir in the RFID and AIDC (automatic identification and data capture) sectors when he said RFID was unlikely to ever replace bar coding, at least in the supply chain. "History is littered with large technical blunders; RFID in the supply chain is potentially one of the biggest," wrote Clinton back then. Heavey RF's Clinton's perspectives in 2007 remain a lot more right than wrong - in the supply chain, good old bar coding continues to mostly rule the roost.