RFID Provides Competitive Advantage when Deployed Enterprise-Wide
27 Nov 2009
A study by four US university professors has found that companies deploying radio frequency identification (RFID) across an entire supply chain provides substantial competitive benefits, although a “wall of silence” prevents companies from sharing their success stories.
The study, Empirical Evidence of RFID Impacts on Supply Chain Performance, said that while businesses are embracing RFID to automate operational and management functions, few companies have reached the “transformational” stage where RFID is used across multiple operations and departments, both within the company, and across is partners.
The authors maintain that it is only when firms fully employ RFID technology across their own operations and those of their partners, can they gain a competitive advantage.
The research did mention that many such deployments may be in place, however, companies are choosing to keep their use of the technology to themselves, creating a “wall of silence” culture.
“When you reach the transformational level, it’s a competitive advantage,” said Professor John Visich, the study’s lead author and Associate Professor of Management at Bryant University.
The study also found that most companies had installed RFID systems to address a specific activity such as tagging cartons, and as a result, had not seen considerable benefits.
On the other hand, companies that had reached the transformational stage saw substantial improvement in a diverse range of areas such as retail promotions coordination, reconciliation, decision-making effectiveness and quality, resource usage and production control.
“Vendors should not make a business case for RFID to improve one process,” said Professor Visich.
“It’s not going to look like a favourable investment. RFID can be deployed across multiple processes.”
Despite this reluctance to share information, it is predicted that many sectors including hospitals, logistics providers and retailers will reach the transformational phase of RFID technology within five to eight years.
Study co-author Professor Suhong Li from Bryant University says that in the meantime, RFID users and vendors need to focus on the big picture. Instead of focusing on small deployments that address issues such as retailer mandates, companies need to consider the entire business process and examine how an RFID system could be used to improve it.
Learn more about RFID technologies at CeBIT's Retail Tech Exhibition.
Page Tags
Recent Technology News
-
Alliance of Telco Chiefs Propose “NBN 3.0”, an Alternative National Broadband Model
1 Sep 2010 Today, a group of telco chiefs, dubbed the “Alliance for Affordable Broadband”, has issued a manifest detailing an alternative national broadband plan they are calling “NBN 3.0.” The group contains the CEOs of AAPT, Allegro Networks, BigAir Ltd, Vocus Communications, Polyfone, EFTel – along with the Founder of PIPE Networks.... read more
-
Broadband policy a key issue as negotiations with independents continue
24 Aug 2010 Following the hung parliament result of the Federal Election on Saturday, crucial talks with the three independents continue – with broadband and communications policy playing a key role. Each of the three independents in the national spotlight following the weekend’s uncertain election result – Bob Katter from the far north Queensland... read more
-
Facebook joins the location-based trend
20 Aug 2010 Facebook, the world’s biggest social network, has announced it is getting in on the location-based social networking boom. "Where are you?" is joining "What's on your mind?" as Facebook lets its users declare their whereabouts to others within their networks and if they choose, to the broader business community. Using the new... read more
-
NBN Co Chief announces $1bn satellite plan
14 Jul 2010 The latest update from the NBN Co reveils the network will be enhanced by two satellites to be newly designed and launched solely for the project. Each valued at almost $500 million, the satellites will provide services to areas unable to access fibre or wireless coverage, supplying around two per cent of the total capacity of the NBN. At a recent ICT... read more
-
Tablets invade vertical markets
13 Jul 2010 Following on from the success of the iPad, analysts and industry alike are predicting tablets will soon prove a disruptive technology in vertical mobile infrastructure. CeBIT Australia veteran Tegatech, principal, Hugo Ortega explains that although Apple’s iPad had become the darling of the consumer tablet market, the increased interest in... read more
Follow CeBIT Australia on your favourite social network...
News
Updates
Networking
Images
Videos
Bookmarks