What is RFID?
Radio Frequency IDentification (RFID) is an automatic identification method that stores and remotely retrieves data via an RFID tag or transponder.

What is a UPC?
UPC stands for Universal Product Code, which has been used to auto-identify items via machine-readable barcodes for a number of years.

What is an EPC?
The EPC, or Electronic Product Code, is the next generation of automatic product identification. EPCglobal, an organization leading the development of industry standards for EPC, refers to the EPC as a "simple, compact 'license plate' that uniquely identifies objects (items, cases, pallets, locations, and so on) in the supply chain."

What are the differences between UPC and EPC?
A UPC only identifies object classes or generic categories of product -- such as a pack of Wrigley’s Spearmint gum. An EPC uses a unique serial number to identify each individual pack of gum and makes it possible to automatically track products from manufacturer to store shelf.

How does RFID work?
An RFID programmer encodes information onto a tiny microchip within a thin RFID tag that looks much like a normal pressure-sensitive carton label.

This tag is attached to a carton as it begins its supply chain journey from manufacturing plant to retailer.

RFID readers that work on the same protocol as the tag are distributed at key points throughout the supply chain. These readers activate the tag, causing it to broadcast high frequency radio waves within bandwidths reserved for RFID usage by individual governments. These radio waves transmit identifiers or codes that reference unique information about products inside the carton.

Readers relay the codes to a host computer as the carton passes through an RFID portal or moves along a conveyor anywhere in the supply chain.

The computer parses this information and makes it readily available to anyone who needs to know where a product is at any given moment in time.