I wasn’t on the LM editorial staff more than a couple weeks before I had my first Al Pacino moment. Remember that scene in Godfather III when an exasperated Michael Corleone grouses, “Just when I thought I was out, they pulled me back in”?

The “they” in this case is the RFID crowd. For the last couple decades I’ve been pursuing them for the latest standards developments and they’ve been after me for coverage of their latest products.

In the manufacturing world—they were there. In the distribution world—they were there. Even in the world of paperboard packaging—yes, they were there too. As RFID made news in these markets, I did my part to report all the excitement, whether it was about landmark standards developments or the demands the 800 pound gorillas were putting on suppliers to embrace the technology faster.

Only recently has news about RFID fatigue started trickling out—first in The Wall Street Journal, then in the Financial Times, then in other general business pubs. A number of the suppliers in the 800 pound gorillas’ supply chains started telling the media they couldn’t envision sharing in all the benefits their retailer customers stood to enjoy, so they were in no hurry to comply with the kind of RFID mandates Wal-Mart was sending their way. Let other pioneers take the arrows first, they said.

That’s when I thought, maybe some of this irrational exuberance about RFID is on the wane and I can start focusing on another groundbreaking technology.

Well—they’re back. My Al Pacino moment came while covering the 30th annual conference of the Warehousing Education and Research Council (WERC), held in Nashville at the end of April. I just finished lunch when the luncheon speaker was introduced: “Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Keith Harrison, Jr., global product supply officer for Procter and Gamble.”

He didn’t sound fatigued about RFID at all. In fact, his goal is to achieve “actionable visibility” of what’s leaving his customers’ (the retailers’) shelves. You know how, don’t you? RFID. He said it will help P&G see and act on sales trends faster and measure the impact of promotions more effectively. Before implementing this technology, he said P&G’s order-fill rate was 99.5 percent—that’s not so good when you’re thinking at the shelf level, he added. Out-of-stocks were greater than 15 percent. RFID has helped P&G cut out-of-stocks at the shelf level by half.

Another problem area for P&G pre-RFID: a dismal 45 percent compliance level from retailers in setting up store displays. Now, RFID helps P&G monitor display activity; which improves sales. Even a one percent improvement in sales means $750 million a year for the $75 billion company.

Okay, I’m back in. RFID is still hot, especially from a data crunching standpoint. Consider this: According to The New York Times, by 2004, Wal-Mart’s database contained twice as much data as the Internet. The supply chain technology Wal-Mart uses is keeping its vast data warehouse well stocked.

Sure, there will continue to be detractors. Privacy activist say marketers want tag data to identify consumers and profile their possessions so they can target them with marketing and advertising material wherever they go.

Consumers will have to decide if sharing their own information with retailers is worth the lower prices that could come with supply chain efficiency.

That efficiency is coming. Take a look at our story on Schiff Nutrition. This vitamin manufacturer is making a case for implementing RFID in its supply chains serving not only Wal-Mart, but Costco, Rite-Aid, and BJ’s. For Schiff, RFID is more than a mandate, it’s a chance to “be able to build a sizeable competitive advantage for the long-term.”

That sounds like an offer they can’t refuse.