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By Pat Bogan | February 3, 2026
Beyond Barcodes: How FedEx is Solving for Billions of Blind Spots in the Supply Chain
In logistics, what you can’t see can hurt you. Every moment a package is unaccounted for between scans represents a blind spot, a gap in the story of its journey. For a global leader like FedEx, operating at a scale of millions of packages a day, these gaps create operational friction and prevent the kind of flawless visibility their customers expect. How do you find a way to see everything, everywhere, all at once?
I recently had the opportunity to explore this very question with leaders from FedEx in the first episode of our new podcast series. We discussed their strategic adoption of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology to address this fundamental challenge. The goal is to create a supply chain where packages essentially announce their own location. Instead of relying solely on manual line-of-sight scans, RFID allows information to be captured automatically as items move through hubs and gateways. This creates billions of new data points, painting a rich, real-time picture of the network.
For FedEx, the benefits are clear. Automating data capture increases productivity and gives their frontline teams more information to work with, enabling smarter decisions on the ground. This initiative also shows the power of a collaborative ecosystem, bringing together industry pioneers and academic experts from places like the University of Memphis RFID lab to solve a common problem. The discussion revealed that this technology enhances, rather than replaces, existing systems, creating an even more powerful and data-rich environment.
This quest for heightened asset visibility is a core pillar of building more intelligent operations. I invite you to watch the first episode of our series to learn how FedEx is lighting up its supply chain, one data point at a time. If you have any questions or want to discuss this topic in more detail, please contact me directly at pat.bogan@zebra.com.
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