Today’s businesses face a dynamic and competitive environment which results in an ever increasing pressure on them to innovate, reinvent processes, and leverage the potential of supply chain partnerships. Current supply chain trends, as mentioned by McFarlane and Sheffi, include globalization, outsourcing, stock keeping unit (SKU) proliferation, and shorter product lifecycles.1
To enable these trends and to master the inherent challenges, companies must at all times have information and visibility about shipments, products and progress. Yet, this strongly needed information and visibility is not limited to the internal company supply chain but rather along the entire supply chain from the original supplier to the end customer. Thus, external supply chain integration on the basis of fine granularity of data has to be one of the primary objectives in today’s supply chain management efforts. One of the emerging technologies offering a solution for this aim is Radiofrequency Identification (RFID). RFID can facilitate automating and streamlining identification processes. This means more checkpoints along the supply chain can be established at decreased costs. However, not limited to that purpose, the technology offers additional benefits which make it superior to the automatic identification (Auto-ID) technology of the barcode currently in widespread use. Nonetheless, RFID is only a data-collection technology which must be integrated with the supply chain management systems of the companies. Furthermore, along the supply chain various information systems must be integrated in order to give a meaning to the data and to allow for information exchange. Although RFID technology has originally been developed decades ago, the industrial use of RFID in large scale supply chain operations has until now been prohibited due to the relatively high costs compared to other Auto-ID solutions. Recent mandates of large retail companies, such as WalMart and Metro Group, force suppliers in the position where they have to implement the technology without proper knowledge about it. Additionally, there are still several technical as well as rather political barriers to be solved. This seminar paper deals with RFID technology introduction and impacts on supply chain management systems in order to give an insight into the current issues and status of the technology.
Table of Contents
- Introduction
- Scope and objectives of this paper
- Structure of this study
- Fundamentals of supply chain management systems and the role of RFID
- The concept of supply chain management
- Characteristics and tasks of supply chain management systems
- Data acquisition through RFID a system enabler
- Current issues in RFID deployment in the light of supply chain management systems
- Competing standardization bodies
- Features of RFID systems and implementation considerations
- Item level identification and privacy issues with regard to end customers
- Resulting impacts on supply chain management systems
Objectives and Key Themes
This seminar paper aims to provide an insight into the current issues and status of RFID technology introduction and its impacts on supply chain management systems. The paper focuses on understanding RFID's capabilities and its potential application within the near future.
- The role of RFID as a data acquisition technology in supply chain management systems.
- Challenges and opportunities of RFID deployment in relation to standardization, implementation, and privacy.
- The impact of RFID on supply chain management systems, particularly regarding information visibility and process efficiency.
- The benefits and limitations of RFID technology compared to traditional barcode systems.
Chapter Summaries
- Introduction: This chapter introduces the paper's objectives and outlines the structure of the study. It emphasizes the increasing need for information visibility and data integration in today's supply chain management efforts and introduces RFID as a potential solution.
- Fundamentals of supply chain management systems and the role of RFID: This chapter explores the concept of supply chain management, defining its scope and benefits. It then discusses the characteristics and tasks of supply chain management systems before highlighting the role of RFID as a data acquisition technology and its enabler capabilities.
- Current issues in RFID deployment in the light of supply chain management systems: This chapter examines the challenges and complexities associated with implementing RFID technology within supply chain management systems. It discusses competing standardization bodies, features of RFID systems, and the resulting implementation considerations. The chapter also explores the implications of item-level identification and privacy concerns for end customers.
Keywords
The key terms and topics covered in this paper include: supply chain management, RFID technology, data acquisition, system enabler, standardization, implementation, privacy, item level identification, and information visibility.
- Quote paper
- Roman Christian Rochel (Author), 2005, RFID technology introduction and impacts on supply chain management systems, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/46885
