Japanese government to test RFID

The Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) will cooperate with twenty companies in six different retail sectors and with fourty suppliers to test the effectiveness of RFID.

The METI will finance this US$ 4.5 million project, which consists of installation of RFID tags on the participating manufacturers’ products and special reading sensors in the retailers’ warehouses, Asian Pulse reports. The goal of the Japanese government, that hopes the retail sector will implement RFID tags in the near future, is to increase cost-cutting in distribution.

Supermarkets, convenience stores and hypermarkets are among the retailers participating in this project. Japan’s giant Aeon says the company aims to slash its average inventory level for food products at its distribution centre from the current seven days to one in the future, with RFID operational. Also Ito Yokado's convenience store operation Seven & I is involved, as are the breweries Asahi and Kirin.


The METI pretends with this trial to verify the effectiveness of the RFID tag system and whether it is of added value to retailers or not. The Ministry also wants to prove to retailers - who have been wary about making huge investments in RFID technology due to uncertainty about the potential benefits - that the new technology will certainly help companies to cut cost and boost their competitiveness.