Alignment is not necessary.A tag scan does not require line of sight. This can save time in processing that would otherwise be spent lining up items.•High inventory speeds.Multiple items can be scanned at the same time. As a result, the time taken to count items drops substantially.•Variety of form factors.RFID tags range in size from blast-proof tags the size of lunch boxes to tiny passive tags smaller than a grain of rice. These different form factors allow RFID technologies to be used in a wide variety of environments.•Item-level tracking.Ninety-six-bit RFID tags provide the capability to uniquely identify billions of item.