Empirical Evidence of RFID Impacts on Supply Chain Performance

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to investigate the actual benefits of radio frequency identification (RFID) on supply chain performance through the empirical evidence. Design/methodology/approach - The research reviews and classifies the existing quantitative empirical evidence of RFID on supply chain performance. The evidence is classified by process (operational or managerial) and for each process by effect (automational, informational, and transformational). Findings - The empirical evidence shows that the major effects from the implementation of RFID are automational effects on operational processes followed by informational effects on managerial processes. The RFID implementation has not reached transformational level on either operational or managerial processes. RFID has an automational effect on operational processes through inventory control and efficiency improvements. An informational effect for managerial processes is observed for improved decision quality, production control and the effectiveness of retail sales and promotions coordination. In addition, a three-stage model is proposed to explain the effects of RFID on the supply chain. Research limitations/implications - Limitations of this research include the use of secondary sources and the lack of consistency in performance measure definitions. Future research could focus on detailed case studies that investigate cross-functional applications across the organization and the supply chain. Practical implications - For managers, the empirical evidence presented can help them identify implementation areas where RFID can have the greatest impact. The data can be used to build the business case for RFID and therefore better estimate ROI and the payback period. Originality/value - This research fills a void in the literature by providing practitioners and researchers with a better understanding of the quantitative benefits of RFID in the supply chain

An Exploratory Study of RFID Implementation in the Supply Chain

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the barriers and motivations for adopting radio frequency identification (RFID), the level of RFID implementation, the processes RFID is utilized in, and issues in the deployment of RFID. A survey instrument was developed based on a literature review. The survey was then distributed to the members of the Association for Operations Management Rhode Island and Boston chapters. The results were then analyzed. It was found that the majority of the surveyed firms are not considering RFID implementation. Lack of a business case and lack of understanding were cited as their main concerns. For firms considering RFID implementation and firms that had implemented RFID, better inventory management, obtaining competitive advantage, and cost reduction were the three most important motivations for adopting RFID. Financial concerns and the lack of a business case were the most prevalent issues. In addition, product tracking (pallets, cases, and items) in shipping was the most cited RFID application. It was also found that considering firms are facing less pressure from customers to adopt RFID and reported a much higher degree of apprehension regarding potential issues than implementing firms reported for actual difficulties faced. One of the limitations is the small sample size (n = 49) which may limit the generalizability of the results. By identifying barriers, motivations, and issues in the implementation of RFID, this study further educates practitioners on the challenges and opportunities of RFID, as well as providing direction to academicians for further research on this area

Mapping the knowledge domains of emerging advanced technologies in the management of prefabricated construction

Emerging advanced technologies (EAT) have been regarded as significant technological innovations which can greatly improve the transforming construction industry. Given that research on EAT related to the management of prefabricated construction (MPC) has not yet been conducted, various researchers require a state-of-the-art summary of EAT research and implementation in the MPC field. The purpose of this paper is to provide a systematic literature review by analysing the selected 526 related publications in peer-reviewed leading journals during 2009–2020. Through a thorough review of selected papers from the state-of-the-art academic journals in the construction industry, EAT is recognised as the key area affecting the development of the MPC discipline. This study has value in offering original insights to summarise the advanced status quo of this field, helping subsequent researchers gain an in-depth understanding of the underlying structure of this field and allowing them to continue future research directions

Measuring RFId Benefits in Supply Chains

RFId systems hold great potentials in enhancing supply chain performances. Some of the major retailers in the World (Wall Mart, Metro Group, Tesco) made sounding campaigns promoting the benefits they were able to attain. Despite the growing number of researches concerning RFId benefits, a study investigating their measurement in the supply chain context is still lacking. This paper proposes to associate qualitative RFId benefits identified in literature with corresponding measures by designing three tools: (1) an RFId oriented Performance Measurement System for the identification of all RFId related supply chain performance indicators on the base of the SCOR Model. (2) A benefits-processes-measures matrix linking the benefits identified in literature with SCOR model process to identify supply chain measures impacted by the RFId system implementation. (3) A reference framework summarizing benefits measures

Advanced Animal Track-&-Trace Supply-Chain Conceptual Framework: An Internet of Things Approach

Information and data transmission, as well as total visibility in terms of supply chain track-&-trace, is seriously lacking in current industrial logistics-&-supply-chain management activities. This paper proposes the application of RFIDs and the Internet of things’ enterprise systems architecture to, propose a low-cost feasible cloud solution. This solution would keep track of health history, birth records, ownership history and track location of each animal by using an electronic solar-powered tag instead of the current passive ear tags. This paper employs GPRS, GSM and the Google Earth function along with RFIDs to design an enhanced proposed enterprise system-architecture framework in the form of a business process model. Various areas such as e-health, e-commerce, and cloud-based manufacturing have been revolutionized by discoveries in digitized practices. Advancements in the Internet of things led to the advent of asset tracking systems, condition monitoring and various intelligent systems that exchange data over the cloud. Farmers are very vulnerable to stock theft, straying animals and high business risks due to poor animal health management practices. Existing tracking systems have high ownership costs since some of them rely on GSM network providers whose services are costly for farmers. Innovations in digitized systems continue to add more value to businesses and individuals across broad range sectors. Authors of this paper propose a low-cost intelligent animal tracking system for an African free-ranging environment. Economies worldwide are ever becoming digital and animal husbandry practices stand to benefit from this digitisation approach

Impact of RFID and EPCglobal on Critical Processes of the Pharmaceutical Supply Chain

The need to implement and guarantee effective item-level tracing systems is becoming more and more important for a wide range of business applications, such as manufacturing, logistics, healthcare, and anti-counterfeiting. Among these, the pharmaceutical supply chain, with millions of medicines moving around the world and needing to be traced at item level, represents a very interesting reference scenario. Furthermore, the growing counterfeiting problem raises a significant threat within the supply chain system. Recently, several international institutions (e.g. Food and Drug Administration, European Medicines Agency, European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations, GS1) are encouraging the use of innovative solutions in healthcare and in the pharmaceutical supply chain, to improve patient safety and enhance the efficiency of the pharmaceutical supply chain, with better worldwide drug traceability

A Systematic Literature Review on Innovative Technologies Adopted in Logistics Management

Many innovative technologies have been successfully adopted in logistics and supply chain management processes to increase efficiency, reduce costs or enhance communication. In recent years, considerable attention from both practitioners and academics has been focused on evaluating the impacts of innovative technologies adoption. However, the current body of literature on technology adoption, implementation and evaluation in logistics is quite fragmented; thus, an updated and structured overview of the scientific literature in this field might be useful. To this end, this work presents a systematic literature review (SLR) that aims to increase the understanding of the trend toward new technologies in logistics and identify the main research trends and gaps. The principal research trends that emerged from the SLR involve the technologies, their evolution over time and their relationships with the research methodologies. The main literature gaps concern integration and communication, technology-adoption processes and differences between inbound and outbound logistics

Item-Level RFID in the Japanese Publishing Industry: A Case Study

Over the past decade, several industries have considered RFID technology for improving supply chain efficiency. The Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) initiated and sponsored a number of RFID trials between 2003 and 2006. METI selected the Japanese publishing industry, one of the largest publishing industries in the world, for an early item-level RFID trial geared to increasing industry profitability. This paper uses case study methodology to examine the 2006 METI RFID trial in the Japanese publishing industry. It reports on the trial results and on their implications. The study derives some insights concerning trial composition and the feasibility and efficiency of item-level RFID from the sub-trials. Setting the 2006 METI RFID trial into a broader perspective, the paper concludes with a summary, some lessons learned, and an outlook on future research

The role of Industry 4.0 enabling technologies for safety management: A systematic literature review

Abstract Innovations introduced during the Industry 4.0 era consist in the integration of the so called "nine pillars of technologies" in manufacturing, transforming the conventional factory in a smart factory. The aim of this study is to investigate enabling technologies of Industry 4.0, focusing on technologies that have a greater impact on safety management. Main characteristics of such technologies will be identified and described according to their use in an industrial environment. In order to do this, we chose a systematic literature review (SLR) to answer the research question in a comprehensively way. Results show that articles can be grouped according to different criteria. Moreover, we found that Industry 4.0 can increase safety levels in warehouse and logistic, as well as several solutions are available for building sector

Modelling The Warehous Operations To Reveal The Value Of RFID

Nowadays, the emerging RFID technology has generated a dilemma in a lot of sectors and fields. Especially companies seem to be among the most intricate and affected ones, since important processes related to the upstream and downstream supply chain, as well as in-store ones, can become more accurate and simplified even eliminated, returning crucial profits to them. Indeed, some warehouse processes that imply significant human effort and time can be amplified due to this arisen technology. This paper refers to the mapping and modelling of the four most common warehouse processes, namely receiving, put-away, picking and shipping before and after the RFID implementation