The Race to RFID

CHIEFEXECUTIVE—By embracing radio-frequency identification technology wholeheartedly, Wal-Mart Stores and the U.S. Department of Defense have given CEOs across the country reason enough to follow suit. But they’ll be way behind Chris Hornung, whose company, Pacific Cycle, started working with RFID three years ago, has invested nearly $3 million in its implementation and has already begun using RFID in some shipments of its bicycles. “We’re the only bike company that is even beginning to look at this technology,” says Hornung, CEO of the Madison, Wis.-based concern he founded 30 years ago. “We’re light years ahead of everyone else.”

Hornung already has gotten his arms around a technological challenge that many CEOs are just beginning to tackle. The technology is still relatively expensive and many CEOs appear to have refrained from making the necessary investment, waiting to see whether it wins rapid adoption. Read article.