Combating Counterfeit Pharmaceuticals With Rfid Technology

Strong investment in Information technology to streamline information flows and product flows along supply chain(RFID, Retail-Link system)

RFID systems are currently being used in manufacturing plants to track parts, stay informed of work in progress, reduce product defects, increase throughput, and manage production of given products. Big name retailers such as Best Buy, Metro, Target, Albertson’s, Hewlett Packard, and Wal-Mart are leading the way in implementing RFID systems. These retailers recognize the need to improve inventory efficiency, ensure products are available to customers as needed, decrease theft, and cut down on costs associated with tracking and processing inventory.

However, it is important to mention about an active RFID technology in order to understand why it is not suitable for the case of the production in-house logistics. Active system provides constant visibility of inventory, they are placed in the zones wherever inventory needs to

PRADA has long been adopted management information systems into most of their business part including manufacturing, sales, and human resource management. PRADA has Group information technology director who primarily responsible for the management of the Group’s information technology system. In 2000s, by using radio frequency identification (RFID), PRADA tried to controls manufacturing system, inventory, warehousing, distribution, logistics, automatic object tracking and supply chain management. What PRADA expected from RFID technologies were improve the potential benefits of supply chain management through reduction of inventory losses, increase of the efficiency and speed of

The RFID is considered a significant improvement over the conventional barcode, which needs to be read by scanners in "line-of-sight" fashion and can be stripped away if the paper product labels get ripped or damaged. RFID can also facilitate inter-organizational E-commerce initiatives such as continuous replenishment or vendor-managed inventories (Smaros and Holmstrom, 2000).

RFID data is visible and trackable across the supply chain and reduces scanning error, stockouts and the labour required to move inventory (Shin & Eksioglu 2014, p. 633). Importantly, as Concept2creation (n.d.) shows picking and scanning cartons from the cages is labour intensive and requiring audits. Alternatively, RFID transmitters on pallets and cages, can automatically be scanned upon receipt. Cartons without RFID can be placed in totes to be tracked internally (Michel 2014,

Radio Frequency Identification Devices (RFID) have been used in the retail industry for more than fifty years as an inventory assessment application tracking product sales and distribution data for goods and services. Current trends of RFID for this industry have been favorable for hi-tech state-of-the-art industries, yet in the past years to 2014 device prices have fallen at an estimated average annual 5.3% primarily due to its characteristic as a "throwaway" inventory or control device. This market segment uses tags or labels, which are scanned and ultimately leave the store with the consumer, eventually disposing of the empty carton or used product. Retailer’s using this application method require multiple components and suppliers are

Counterfeit or fake medication is a problem in the world of pharmacy affecting many unsuspecting patients. These patients buy medication from unlicensed sources such as illegitimate online pharmacies, usually with the intent of purchasing it for a cheaper price. However, they do not realize that the product made is artificial and is sub-potent, super-potent, or contaminated, damaging their health, rather than improving it. Fake drugs can also enter the medical supply chain through active ingredients made in other countries such as India or China, that are then packaged to countries such as the United States (Blackstone, Fuhr and Pociask, 2014). The active ingredients would then enter medicinal products sold in pharmacies, and in medicine given to unsuspecting patients in hospitals. Regardless of the path of entry into patient’s bodies, counterfeit medication is damaging to the health of patients, as they can give patients an underdose of drug, and toxic contaminants within the body. Counterfeit drugs pose a very harmful health threat to patients in society.

Data from SCM can be linked to Blockchain which keeps the data available to all stakeholders yet in a way that it cannot be tampered by unwanted unauthorized access. Thus blockchain supports the process as a whole by eliminating human intervention[6]. Other advantages of blockchain include scalability, safety, proof of correctness, high performance, self organized. Blockchain has been gaining importance in the field of supply chain management(SCM) as circulation of counterfeit products can be controlled with its upbringing of transparency in number of different industries. This fight against product counterfeiting is done using BlockVerify by which the product details are stored in each of the blocks hence tampering or creating redundancy is not possible. In blockchain each product in the chain will have its own unique identity to reduce market frauds to considerable extents. Blockchain is playing a major part in the Internet of Things by enhancing security and in managing devices more easily. The RFID Tag due to its varied benefits can be used to meet service needs in

Counterfeit drugs have become a menace and a dangerous problem in the pharmaceutical industry. This rapidly growing global epidemic and was $75 billion industry in 2010. World Health Organization (WHO) claims that on average, approximately 2000 children die every day in Africa alone, from the consumption of counterfeit drugs. The pharmaceutical industry needs to come up with answers to protect public health, minimize supplier risk, protect brand reputation and promote the integrity of the supply chain. In its report on “Combating Counterfeit Drugs” the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) concluded that RFID tagging appeared to be “the most promising approach to reliable product tracking and tracing.” (FDA, 2004).[3] In this paper, we will explore how counterfeit pharmaceuticals are finding their way into the supply chain, the consequences experienced on a patient level as a result of counterfeit medicine consumption and more importantly how RFID is of help in fighting this global crime efficiently. RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) has brought a revolutionary change in many industries, especially in supply chain management. Implementing RFID in pharmaceutical industry is a game changer for the pharmaceutical

In the sectors such as FMCG (Fast-Moving Consumer Goods) retailers and automotive industry there are millions of components and huge number of suppliers associated with them and hence supply chain management becomes a major challenge. There have been various technologies which have helped in the past in improving effectiveness of this supply chain. One of the technologies which is highly investigated now for increasing efficiency of the supply chain is RFID (Radio Frequency Identification).

Having meaningful information means it can be easily integrated into any of the company’s applications, and can give them a real-time view of all of their supply chain processes. These benefits are all possible using RFID middleware, but it is a step that is often overlooked during implementation (Implementing RFID). Ignoring the importance of middleware, many companies have found that the large amounts of data they receive from the system becomes too much to manage, thus leading to problems with the integration of the system and overall performance of the company.

Some of the disadvantages of the RFID technology are that it is expensive to install. Small and medium scale enterprises find it costly to use it in their firms and offices. In the case of Harley Davidson, getting products from many different suppliers’ would mean that the tags may have to be installed in liquid and metal products. The problem is that the liquid and metal surfaces tend to reflect the radio waves, which makes the tags unreadable. The tags have to be placed in various alignments and angles for taking proper reading. This is a tedious task when the work involves a large organization like Harley Davidson. Another disadvantage of the technology is that interference has been observed if devices such as forklifts and walkie-talkies are in the vicinity of the distribution centers. The presence of mobile phone towers has been found to interfere with RFID radio waves. Wal-Mart, the retail sector giant, has installed billions of RFID tags in their products throughout the world and they have encountered such problems.

RFID is being used in supply chain. It is used in movement of product. In 1999 Prof. David Brock and Prof. Sanjay Sarma had been doing some research for decreasing cost on RFID tags on all products that are made to track them through the

52. Study of impact of revolutionary technologies on inventory management: RFID, Inventory and Supply Chain Management