Charles Walton's passive tag patent in 1983 coincided with the growing adoption of which manufacturing philosophy demanding high visibility?
Just-in-Time (JIT) inventory systems
The timing of Charles Walton's 1983 patent for the passive RFID tag aligned perfectly with major industrial shifts, particularly the increasing adoption of Just-in-Time (JIT) inventory systems, notably within the automotive sector. JIT is a philosophy that heavily penalizes the accumulation of buffer stock, demanding extreme precision regarding the exact location and availability of components or finished goods at all times. Walton's low-cost, high-read-rate passive tag provided the continuous, near-perfect visibility required to maintain JIT efficiency without incurring the financial penalties associated with holding excess safety stock. The technology arrived when the underlying logistics philosophies were ready to immediately exploit its capabilities through improved enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems.
