Innovation plays a significant role in driving business, which in turn drives our economy. Although an indelible mark is being made on nearly every aspect of modern life, few of us ever stop to reflect on how property identification through UID labels impacts us personally. They aren't overlooked in industry however, where asset tracking capabilities are crucial for operating a successful, profitable business. In today's economy, there are definite cost savings that occur from maximizing the use of a company's assets. This means knowing where the assets are, how they are being used, and how they are being maintained and serviced. This can all be realized by using UID labels.

Many companies have been using asset tracking systems by way of UID labels, to keep better tabs of all of their assets since the 1950s. Metal plating, bar codes, and RFID tags are just a few of the ways that asset tracking can be accomplished. While the oldest and perhaps simplest method of creating UID labels is serialized metal plating, it is probably also the most durable. The embossed aluminum stainless steel and anodized aluminum plates are still manufactured and used to this day. These plates carry barcodes which are used almost everywhere, from simple office furniture to Department of Defense military helicopters.

Versatility is just one of the reasons that barcode technology has achieved such widespread use with the military and its UID labels initiative. Barcodes are a good way to automate what was formerly a manual asset tracking process. Companies that wish to implement a system but aren't sure if they want to go directly to barcode technology can print the barcodes on the tag and then just use only the human readable portion of the tag. They can do this until they are prepared to use a fully automated asset tracking system.

Once an automated barcode system with UID labels has been implemented, the benefits are twofold, comprising of accuracy and efficiency. In a traditional fixed asset example, manual methods would require somebody to go around and collect all of the asset information and then subsequently key it into a computer. This not only is inefficient, as it delays the transport of much-needed inventory, but prone to error. Studies have indicated that the error rate with a manual system can be as high as 1 in 300, while the error rate from an automated system is as low as 1 in 3 million.

Over the years, various materials such as polyester, polycarbonate, and specially formulated ceramics have been added to the list of durable materials used in modern UID labels. Since UID labels are one-of-a-kind and need to be durable, they are often subjected to strenuous environments which test their ability to maintain their accuracy over time. In this way, the military can fulfill its initiative of making UID labels accurate, durable, and versatile.