...in Supply Chain Management: Case Study 1 RFID and increased Supply Chain efficiency By Hilal Al Harthy Yanee Angsukran Vikram Ramakrishnappa Gowda Paul Macinnes Thakerngkorn Pothibourthong Contents 1. Executive Summary 2. Introduction 3. RFID in Operations - Wal-Mart case study 4. RFID in Logistics - Canadian Airlines case study 5. The Risks of RFID technology in the Supply Chain 6. Conclusions 7. References 1. Executive Summary RFID is an emerging Information technology system in Supply Chain management. The purpose of using this technology is to speed up processes, improve efficiency and reduce operational costs. Looking at large companies who have implemented such schemes, we can see that although implementation and operational factors can be barriers, RFID technology is beneficial to Supply Chain operations. In terms of Implementation, the high costs and low initial ROI (Return On Investment) can make the use of RFID technology appear unattractive when first deployed. In terms of Operations, The technical difficulties for RFID produced by certain manufacturing environments can be a major obstacle, as well as difficulties integrating supply chain partners into a RFID based Supply Chain. Despite this, research revealed that RFID provides improvements to a Supply Chains core efficiency, which positively impacts upon running costs. It is suggested therefore that the use of RFID in the Supply Chain...
Words: 2086 - Pages: 9
...EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES: RFID RFID TECHNOLOGIES: SUPPLY-CHAIN APPLICATIONS AND IMPLEMENTATION ISSUES Rebecca Angeles RFID technologies hold the promise of closing some of the information gaps in the supply chain, especially in retailing and logistics. As a mobile technology, RFID can enable “process freedoms” and real-time visibility into supply chains. This article provides an introduction to the technology, several case examples, and implementation guidelines for managers based on published reports. REBECCA ANGELES is an Associate Professor, Management Information Systems Area, Faculty of Administration, University of New Brunswick Fredericton, Canada. Her current research interests include B2B commerce, mobile commerce and supply chain management. EWLY EMERGING WIRELESS TECHnologies, one of which is radio frequency identification (RFID), hold the promise of closing the information gaps in the supply chain. The applications of RFID are wide-ranging and include the manufacturing and distribution of physical goods such as automobiles and transmission assembly (Mintchell, 2002), minting bank notes (Anonymous2, 2002), oil exploration (Anonymous1, 2002), shipping and port operations (D’Amico, 2002; Dornheim, 2002), and pharmaceutical packaging processes (Forcinio, 2002), among others. Keen and Macintosh (2001) consider RFID technologies as part of the “universal infrastructure” that will support mobile commerce. These authors also foresee RFID as an example of technologies...
Words: 11036 - Pages: 45
...2 | Introduction | 2 | 3.1 | Benefits/Pros of RFID in supply chain (Body) | 2 | 3.2 | RFID in supply chain – Described with a case (Body) | 2 | 3.3 | Cons of RFID | 3 | 4 | Conclusion | 3 | 5 | Bibliography | 4 | The impact of RFID technology in Supply Chain Management 1. ABSTRACT This report consists of details of the introduction and inclusion of RFID tagging in supply chain management, along with a several pros and cons in the implementation. In addition, a large retail corporation is discussed in connection with the implementation. The aim of RFID in supply chain management is to see the establishment of product tracking which should revolutionize supply chain management practices. (Michael K, 2005) 2. INTRODUCTION Supply chain management is the management of moving and storing products/goods, from its raw material stage to its selling stage, from one location to another. The key to a good supply chain management is the seamless transfer of its products, supply chain management gained popularity from the mid-1990s. Supply chain has played and will always continue to play a very important role in Globalization. Some keys functions of Supply chain management, is to manage suppliers, inventory, distribution of goods, customer service and transportation. With supply chain playing an integral part in most of the businesses, it is important for a company to make sure that they have a strong supply chain system integrated and with huge developments in the...
Words: 1539 - Pages: 7
...appropriate new and innovative technologies in order to endure and thrive in today’s dynamic marketplace. Of significance is Porter’s (1985) approach to value chain analysis which argues that organizations can achieve competitive advantage by effectively managing its core competencies and activities to create cost advantage and/or differentiation by leveraging Information technology (IT) as a major strategic tool. The latest revolutionary technological breakthrough is the emergence of the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) system which has the demonstrated ability to identify, track, trace and collect information on almost any physical object wirelessly, using electronic tags and radio waves connected to local and international telecommunications networks. RFID therefore provides at least a viable alternative to and significant advantage over the use of barcodes by making use of internet technology and thus providing unlimited opportunities for added value creation and business expansion. While, admittedly, it is no magic elixir and has serious implementation challenges, its full business benefits can be achieved once careful strategic analysis identifying the specific needs of the organization is exercised. RFID is part of the Automatic Identification (Auto-ID) technological grouping which includes barcodes and smart cards. A RFID system has three major components electronic tags (transponders) which stores data, reading devices (interrogators) to capture data and computer hardware...
Words: 3642 - Pages: 15
...fgf Course information for Supply Chain Management (A logistics Approach) Course Facilitator Muhammad Tariq Yousafzai Assistant Professor MBA Imsciences (Distinction Holder) MS Innovation and Business Creation Course syllabus Course literature Langley, Coyle, Gibson, Novack, Bardi (2009), Managing Supply Chains – a logistics approach, 8th edition, South-Western Aims The aim of the course is to achieve an understanding and knowledge about the supply chain and logistics, its Participants, functions and flows and how these are interrelated and interacting. It introduces the students to analyze logistic flows for different products and services within and between firms in the supply chain. Further, students will get an insight of how changes in one part of the chain will influence the whole supply chain and its development. Students will also learn about the role and importance of recycling and reverse logistics. Contents Starting from customer demands the course analyzes the flows through the firm, from procurement and inbound flows, manufacturing and distribution and how these flows in turn are linked to those of suppliers, wholesalers, distributors, retailers and other partners. This will include warehousing and inventory management, the role of transportation, operation management, reverse logistics and recycling logistics system and service logistics. Based on the...
Words: 8594 - Pages: 35
...BANASHANKARI 3RD STAGE BANGALORE. Term paper submission on “SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT AT WALL-MART” -SUBMITTED BY SUJAY C 1PB12MBA51 INDEX S.NO DESCRIPTION 1. INTRODUCTION TO SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT 2. LEVELS OF SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT 3. HISTORY-WALMART 4. WAL-MART INTRODUCTION AND ITS BUSINESS PROCESSES 5. SUPPLY CHAIN MANGEMENT AT WAL-MART 6. PROCUREMENT AND DISTRIBUTION 7. LOGISTICS MANAGEMENT 8. INVENTORY MANAGEMENT 9. COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE AND BUSINESS MODELS USED AT WAL-MART 10. RFID IN WAL-MART 11. EFFICENCY IN SUPPLY CHAIN WITH RFID 12. CONCLUSION Introduction to Supply Chain Management Supply Chain Management is the discipline which encompasses the end to end business activities carried out in any business, independent of the manufacturing or service sectors. It is the synchronization of a network of facilities and distribution options that performs procurement of materials, processing the materials into finished products, and distribution of the products to customers. SCM is seen as involving five fundamental processes. These include planning, sourcing, making, delivering, and returning. Typical supply chain showing interrelations between all involved parties. SCM subsists...
Words: 4359 - Pages: 18
...Wal-Mart Case Study – RFID Introduction Technology is inevitable in every sphere of life today; it has always made things easier. Wal-Mart works on the same strategy, from the above description; we can understand how diversified Wal-Mart is and the volume of cargo it needs to handle for each of its business’s. Traditionally, it had started with computerization of individual stores with small billing machines and had then led to centralized billing for record keeping. The technology has grown by leaps and bounds and has become increasingly challenging to maintain large databases of information and maintain records. Powerful computers networked with high performance clusters maintain and store this data. This gives a picture as to how technology plays a vital role in today’s’ businesses. Traditionally, technology has been upgraded in billing systems and for storage purposes. A new area where technology could be applied to, where many expenses could be saved was in inventory management and logistics. Wal-Mart being so huge, needed to keep track of men and material sent across different countries and had to maintain hundreds of warehouses across the world. Bar-codes have been initially identified as a suitable technology to meet the purpose. But due to the limitations of barcodes, a new emerging technology called RFID has been identified to meet the demands. RFID is low cost Radio Frequency Identification system which requires minimum human intervention to carry out tasks...
Words: 3789 - Pages: 16
...[pic] [pic] Wal-Mart Case Study – RFID and Supply Chain Management FINAL PAPER By Group 2 Group Members: Angrish, Sangita Chivukula, Venkata S. DeWitt, Brendon Patel, Raxesh Shamsi, Shazeb Yellapragada, Ramachandra Date: November 30, 2005 Table of Contents Introduction 4 Why RFID over Bar-Code? 4 RFID Infrastructure 5 Introduction to Supply Chain Management 7 Wal-Mart Introduction and its Business Processes 9 Operations 9 Business Model 10 Market Strategy of Wal-Mart 10 Organizational Development 10 Competitive Advantage 11 Market Opportunity 11 Supply Chain Management at Wal-Mart 11 Procurement and Distribution 11 Logistics Management 12 Inventory Management 12 RFID in Wal-Mart 13 Efficiency in Supply Chain with RFID 14 Wal-Mart Suppliers 15 Kimberly-Clark 15 Kraft Foods 15 Gillette 15 Current Usage of RFID 16 RFID in Military 16 Successful RFID Implementation in different Industries 17 Volkswagen 17 Supermarket tries out smart tagging 17 Sun Microsystems sets up RFID test centre in Scotland 17 I.B.M. Expands Efforts to Promote Radio Tags to Track Goods 17 Texas Instruments 17 EPC global Network 18 Limitations and Challenges of RFID 18 Future of RFID 20 Future Applications 20 REFERENCES: 22 Introduction Technology is inevitable in every sphere of life today; it has always made things easier. Wal-Mart works on the same strategy, from the...
Words: 7811 - Pages: 32
...Cracks in the Pharmaceutical Supply Chain http://www.cio.com/article/print/16565 Print Article Close Window From: www.cio.com Cracks in the Pharmaceutical Supply Chain – Susannah Patton, CIO January 15, 2006 As an undercover agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Food and Drug Administration, Aaron Graham saw firsthand how counterfeit drugs can slip into the pharmaceutical supply chain. Graham, now VP and chief security officer for Purdue Pharma, once posed as the manager of an "institutional pharmacy" selling drugs at a discount to secondary wholesalers who were then supposed to sell them to nursing homes. Soon after he began, his phone started ringing. Dozens of smaller pharmaceutical wholesale companies were calling, desperate to buy his drugs. These secondary or "gray market" wholesalers scour the country and the world for low-price drugs they can sell back to major wholesalers for a profit. In addition to trawling for institutional pharmacies, some secondary wholesalers have been known to purchase counterfeit drugs from criminal organizations in places such as China, Thailand or Colombia. Graham, who was part of a two-year FDA sting operation known as "operation gray pill," helped expose a system in which large and small wholesalers were taking advantage of multitiered pricing in the industry. Prescription drugs are sold at discounts to subsidized groups such as nursing homes and also exported at lower prices. Graham and his colleagues found...
Words: 3359 - Pages: 14
...Supply Chain Efficiency in the Healthcare industry Introduction Healthcare in US is a major area with the country spending almost 16% of its GNP on healthcare costs. The healthcare industry is expected to grow and consume a greater share in the next few years. Hospitals are complex organizations providing a multitude of services to patients, physicians, and staff. These services include dietary, linen, housekeeping, physical plant engineering, pharmacy, laboratory, inpatient treatment (nursing units), surgery, radiology, administration, and others. In the national debate over how to make U.S. healthcare more efficient, one promising area for reform is often overlooked: supplies. Whether the products are knee implants, pacemakers, or expensive medications, hospitals have long purchased whatever doctors desired with little discussion among the parties involved about cost. Healthcare supply chain system is an extremely complex “adsorption model” that moves products downstream with limited visibility into product demand at the point of use. The outcome of the current model results in products that can be out-of-stock as much as 15 percent of the time. The pressures on hospital supply chains are changing too. In the past, a hospital that managed its purchasing costs well could operate efficiently. Today, the cost of materials management can exceed 35% of a hospital's operating budget, with nearly 20-25% attributable to supply costs alone. Despite the supply chain representing...
Words: 2486 - Pages: 10
...Retail Stores Using RFID in Supply Chain Management – Wal-Mart SCM exists in both service and manufacturing environments. A typical supply chain consists of many interactions between suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, retailers, with the ultimate goal of providing either a service or a product to customers. This also works in reverse with the customer at the head of the process when returning a product. The overall goal of SCM is to optimize supply chains in an attempt to provide more accurate and time sensitive information that can be used to improve process times and cut costs. Supply chains have been around for decades and a constantly being improved. The newest opportunity for improvement is the introduction of radio frequency identification (RFID) tags. RFID technology provides real-time information that allows manufacturers to get better readings of customers and markets which ends up improving supply chains. RFID helps retailers provide the right products at the right places at the right times. Ultimately, this results in maximizing sales and profits. Wal-Mart has been leading the charge with RFID technology. The company initiated its plan to employ RFID technology in its supply chain in June 2003. Having the largest retailer adopt and begin to use RFID technology has given strong backing to the technology and has furthered and quickened the expansion of RFID. They have begun requiring all their major suppliers to implement RFID technology on all products supplied...
Words: 835 - Pages: 4
...Information Systems for Supply Chain Management – Paper 1 – RFID Alex Bartell ____________________________________________________________ _________________________ Radio frequency identification (RFID) significantly increases supply chain efficiency by creating an electronic tracking system that encompasses the entire product life cycle. The technology was first discovered during World War II so countries could differentiate their aircrafts from those of their enemies. Just-in-time supply chains were made possible after the innovation of RFID technology. The ability to track products from raw materials to the end customer has brought to light many opportunities for process improvement. Information systems have integrated in RFID recognition technology in order to reduce the number of steps and manual data input required when tracking a product. RFID has created endless ways to track consumer behavior by storing buying habits and transaction details. Radio frequency identification was originally used for military purposes during World War II. In 1935, the radar technology capable of locating aircrafts was invented by Sir Robert Alexander Watson-Watt (Roberti). Planes were able to be identified but there was no way to distinguish between different countries aircrafts. The Germans discovered that when their own pilots rolled the aircrafts, the radar would pick up a slightly different signal, thus creating the first form of RFID technology. The British started placing transmitters...
Words: 2064 - Pages: 9
...measurements corresponds to 4.4% missing product, where the 2.9% comes from somewhere in the supply chain and the 0.3% (6,043 products) was found showcased in another position, a phenomenon that can definitely affect the shopping experience. Due to these and other problems, in recent years, companies have paid special attention to find solutions that allow them to have better visibility into the supply chain of their products, from manufacturing through distribution and even to the point of sale. Of all the solutions available to users, highlights the Radio Frequency Identification Technology ( RFID by its acronym in English) which has existed for over half a century. Its origin dates back to the Second World War, when the British Air Force used it to identify their aircraft. However, in recent years, its potential has been maximized to provide new solutions related to the way in which retailers operate both manufacturers and retailers in sectors as diverse as food, consumer products, textiles, wine , pharmaceutical, automotive, and others. However, technology alone solves difficult problems in any sector, so that it becomes critical to have mechanisms that support the processes in which any component is involved as the information technology, the integration of different systems (both internal and with business partners, etc.). Specifically in the processes of the supply chain, global organizations have worked to develop standardized mechanisms agreed or offered the opportunity...
Words: 1596 - Pages: 7
...1) How has RFID impacted the supply chain? RFID appears to have impacted all five SCM components. With RFID tags victualing data directly to management systems, companies are better equipped to orchestrate for supply chain developments. RFID sanctions companies to monitor their suppliers, their whereabouts and timeliness, fortifying the source component of SCM. Utilizing RFID to track all the individual components that go into a product avails manage the Make component of SCM. TheDistribute component benefits from truck and shipment tracking as well. While the Returncomponent benefits from kenning precisely what product is being returned, along with itsentire history through the supply chain, sanctioning managers to identify issues along thechain through cluster analysis. 2) What other businesses could use RFID to streamline their supply chain? As always, you are encouraged to respond to other's postings. Accommodation and maintenance businesses could benefit from RFID. Auto mechanics utilizing components suppliers that implement SCM strategies utilizing RFID would ken precisely where components are in the process of distribution. If automobiles were to have RFID chips installed on their sundry components, automakers would benefit from the data amassed on onerous components as well as mechanics being able to just scan the tag and have a system ken where to injuctively authorize an incipient one. Theaters and film engenderment and distribution companies would benefit...
Words: 258 - Pages: 2
...RFID in transportation Gopi Krishna Potla Wilmington University Abstract: Radio Frequency Identification is the most prevailing technology in the current world. RFID has many successful applications. Transportation is one among such applications. The use of RFID in transportation made tracking to things easy. RFID increase the efficiency of transportation, saves time and money. It is used in trucking, shipping, airports and also in railways. In this paper, RFID technology is explained briefly at the beginning. Later, implementation of RFID on different ways of transportation is illustrated. The standards of RFID in transportation are also presented. Introduction: RFID stands for Radio-Frequency Identification. RFID technology is a type of wireless communication in which radio waves are used to recognize people and objects. The purpose of an RFID system is transmitting data from a portable device, called a tag, to an RFID reader to execute a particular application based on the tag provided identification or location information (Graafstra, 2006; O' Brien, 2006). This was initially developed for improving warfare technologies. Now, it has been a part of everyone’s routine life. It consists of a tag with a chip and an antenna for sending and receiving data. The technology consolidates with an interrogator (reader), which has an antenna that communicates with the tag. This is an enhanced distinct option for barcodes as it has read and write capabilities. RFID in transportation: ...
Words: 1467 - Pages: 6
