David Engels, the research director of the Auto-ID Labs of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, confirmed that the Dominican Republic would be the center for the strategic development for Latin America of new technology to replace bar codes on store items. The new Electronic Product Code System developed by Auto ID Labs operates on radio frequency identification systems that facilitate the tracking of products. The new RFID system matches information flow with physical flow and was designed to connect all physical objects to the Internet. Engels explains that this new technology will be a new offshoot of the Internet.
He said that Wal-Mart, the giant US retailer, has scheduled implementation of the new system with its 100 top suppliers for January 2005 and will require that the copper bullet (radio frequency ID tags) permitting the authentication, tracking and tracing of objects be installed by all its suppliers by January 2006. This means that Dominican free zone apparel companies will soon need to be RFID-compliant in order to export to the United States.
The copper bullet-microchip has a price tag of US$0.15 per unit, but the goal is to reduce its cost to US$0.05 in the near future so as to facilitate its mass use worldwide.
In the Dominican Republic, MIT will work in collaboration with the Fundacion Global Democracy y Desarrollo, a local think-tank presided by President-elect Leonel Fernandez, and EAN International, which oversees the implementation of bar codes at present.
For more information on this system that will revolutionize retailing, see:
http://www.fmi.org/supply/EPC/