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Companies in a wide range of industries will be able to achieve new efficiencies in their business processes through precise tracking and tracing of physical goods. The encoding of EPC numbers in RFID tags will bring benefits such as the ability to scan an item without direct contact/visibility between the reader and the tag and the ability to scan multiple items in one operation.
EPC technology will provide greater visibility of items in the supply chain. Having more detailed and accurate information on product will improve movement in real-time, inventory management and replenishment practices, resulting in a reduction of lost sales due to out-of-stocks. This will allow companies to accurately and responsively meet customer demand.
EPC will also give companies the ability to dramatically reduce shrinkage. By providing real-time visibility of what's in inventory, it improves processes that can lead to reduced theft, counterfeiting, administrative errors, and costly mass recalls of products.
Large retail stores such as Wal-Mart� have thrown their weight behind the EPC, telling its top 100 suppliers they must be UHF RFID ready by 2005. While the EPC standard is still being finalized, the infrastructure is coming into place to enable the EPC in RFID tags.
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