Okay, so maybe the title of this post is a bit of an exaggeration... but RFID Update reports that the U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA) "expects to reduce some warehouse labor needs 70 percent by using RFID to enhance its legacy bar code-based warehouse management system, which already produces more than $1 million in annual savings."

The SSA is using Intermec's RFID technology at an 80,000 square foot warehouse near the agency's headquarters. The integration with legacy systems was handled by System Concepts. "More than 240,000 different forms, publications, office supplies, and other line items are stored in the facility, which fills more than 42,000 orders from branch offices annually," the article states.

"With this upgrade, we are expecting to see a 70 percent labor savings in our wall-to-wall inventories," says SSA project manager Gary Orem.

Orem says he also expects that shipping accuracy will be improved by five percent. "Now we get better accuracy and have complete control over what's going out," he says. "Our previous process had a few holes, and now we've closed the loop. If someone calls to tell us they didn't get an order, we have to track that down. Now we can say very quickly, 'It left dock door XYZ at 10:30 on truck 123.'"

Intermec's press release is here.