RFID Demystified: Part 3. Company Case Studies.

In the previous two parts of RFID Demystified we have discussed the technology, possible benefits and areas of application for with Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) systems. In this final part we review Company Case-Studies of those who have decided to apply the technology within their organisation. It will be seen that considerable benefits are being experienced within some organisations, pilot applications are increasing our learning and providing a foundation for the future success of projects in this area

RFID Demystified: Part 1. The technology, Benefits and Barriers to Implementation

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) has by some commentators been heralded as a technology that will have as big an impact on supply chain operations as the advent of computer based planning systems in the early 1970’s. Whereas others say it is just yet another technology fad that in a couple of years will have gone away. We are continually reading conflicting messages about RFID, this is partly due to the term being miss used in some quarters and also because as with all new technologies it takes time for all those involved to define a common language. In this series of articles we hope to demystify the technology and its applications. RFID demystified part 1 will cover the technology and its benefits and possible barriers to implementations. Part 2 will progress to give an overview of the potential applications of the technology and finally part 3 will present an overview of the cases where the technology has been applied. Trials have been undertaken by a variety of organisations including Benetton, Woolworths, Scottish Courage and Figleaves.com to name a few. Each article also includes a series of references and a bibliography which it is hoped will enable both practitioners and academics the opportunity to investigate the areas in more depth if this is required

RFID-Applications within the supply chain

Radio frequency identification (RFID) has been heralded by some commentators as a technology that will have as big an impact on supply chain operations as the advent of computer based planning systems in the early 1970’s; others say it is just yet another technology fad that will have gone away in a couple of years. We are continually reading conflicting messages about RFID - this is partly due to the term being misused in some quarters and also because, as with all new technologies, it takes time for all those involved to define a common language. This paper will examine the benefits and barriers to RFID implementation before moving on to discuss applications of the technology and to look at case study examples

RFID Demystified: Part 2. Applications within the supply chain.

In our previous article we discussed the technology, benefits and barriers to implementations of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID). In this article we discuss where this technology can be applied. Essentially, it is argued that RFID systems help companies to cut costs, improve customer service, reduce labour, increase accuracy and improve supply chain throughput. RFID systems applications can be used by different industry sectors like the military, retail, industrial, life sciences, logistics, and financial. The military and the life sciences sectors have been the first in using this technology (Das et al, 2002; Harrop et al, 2003; IDTechEx Ltd, 2003a), although within a more expensive and sophisticated context than we may find in most consumer goods supply chains. Surveys of the application of RFID technology find it is being used mostly for industrial/manufacturing - 44.5 percent of the RFID market (Perez, 2003) - and transportation/distribution - 30.3 percent of the RFID market (Perez, 2003)