The advent of RFID as a supply chain traceability technology results from the drive for agility, to respond to increasing product proliferation and demand volatility. An agile, or “quick respond” supply chain is reliant on the timeliness and quality of shared information. The ability to access real time product information anywhere along the supply chain is thus a key component of becoming truly agile. Yet existing traceability technologies cannot offer real time information. Indeed, until the introduction of RFID, the “Achilles heel” of supply chains has been data acquisition.