Quick! Give me a Price on What????????

Over the last couple of weeks I have been tracking down leads from some of the companies I do development for. Looking at the customer’s request and seeing if the Vendors product correctly fits the requirements is just part of my presales consultant work. I stress to these vendors I work with too never sell into an environment they do not really fit, or oversell their capabilities.

What I have noticed, and this is directed to you customers; 90% of the request regardless of the vendor they inquire to all ask for pricing up front.
They go something like this:
“ I need a price on tracking 300 assets, most are mobile and the move between two facilities.”

Ok great but without details as to the assets we are talking about, the facilities, the infrastructure in them, Environment, processes, tracking requirements, and much much more you are dead in the water.
Bottom Line:

RFID is not a commodity product. I want to stress this, all though most electronics in the world today have been commoditized RFID still requires knowledge, experience, and finesse to deploy and make work properly. You cannot buy RFID tags off the shelf, get a reader and make it work. There are hundreds of tags on the market today and most are very good, but each has its own unique operational parameters once you get past the passive EPC Gen1 / Gen 2 formats they must be deployed correctly and tuned properly.

Please Customers do some homework, lay out your process maps, and send a requirements sheet with your quote request. Maps, drawings, and floor plans will help also. Good projects take good planning and as I have said before; shopping Tag and Hardware price is not the correct way to deploy an RFID project. If you’re not sure where to start hire us (Blackburn Global), we can do the value stream mapping, lean logistics, Project plan, and pick the correct solution or recommend someone who can.

RFID should never be an expense! Deployed with common sense and due diligence it will always be an investment returning dollars to the bottom line year after year.

Byron