UPS has announced that the company is expanding its use of RFID package sensing technology across its network in the United States to increase customer visibility and reduce manual package scans.
RFID technology, which enables automatic sensing of shipments traveling past sensors embedded in its network, is forecast to eliminate nearly 20 million manual scans daily, according to a spokesperson for UPS. The expansion will include equipping hubs with RFID sensors starting later this year and launching RFID label printing capabilities for customers in 2026 and 2027. Tag readers are also embedded in all of UPS’s package delivery vehicles.
The package giant has been using RFID for critical healthcare shipments, but lower costs for labels have enabled the company to expand to a wider customer base. “We’re starting with the U.S. segment, and as we expand this throughout this year and into next year, we will start to deploy internationally, with the goal of equipping our entire network and almost every package with RFID,” said Michael Yoshida, UPS VP of Product Innovation and Strategy.
IAM Member Impact: RFID technology is anticipated to play an increasing role in both the domestic and international moving and storage industry in the future as the cost of labels falls, replacing scanning or the use of manual “bingo” sheets.
Source: Supply Chain Dive