| T H U R S D A Y , M A Y 2 7 , 2 0 0 4 | |
| Topic |
LOCATION COMPONENTS OF RFID (Radio Frequency IDentification) TECHNOLOGY FOR SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT |
| With increasing global mobility &
competitive dynamics, business is being carried out across more corners
of the world than ever before, thus emerging a vital necessity of real
time tracking of your physical assets wherever they are. RFID -
radio frequency identification technology offers great potential for
satisfying such necessities. According to IDC, the market research firm, retail spending on RFID will surpass $875 Million by 2007. However, integration of RFID with others technologies, like location technologies, may be the key for unlocking the technology's true potential. Unlike bar code-based tracking systems, an RFID system can read the information on a tag without requiring line of sight and without the need for a particular orientation. That means RFID systems can be largely automated, reducing the need for manual scanning. In addition, RFID tags hold much more data than UPC labels. The tag can be programmed to hold information such as an item’s serial number, color, size, manufacture date and current price, as well as a list of all distribution points the item touched before arriving at a store. Some RFID systems allow companies to write information to the tag and store it there; the RFID tag then essentially acts as a portable, dynamic database. Moderator's Questions to the Panel: 1. Within the supply chain, what are the various facets of the concept of location that matter? Physical? Administrative? Custodial? 2. How is the translation between those various facets facilitated? 3. In a B2B environment, how is location that has internal meaning (plant, dock door, etc) managed with respect to exchanging information with another enterprise who does not and/or should not know about the internal physical organization of its trading partner? 4. As RFID moves into the supply chain and you have the ability to match location to an individual item, how do you expect this to change your usage and management of location-enabled applications? |
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