Rfid at the Metro Group

I live close to a walmart in Burtonsville MD, so I decided to write this Paper on their Inventory System. Wal-mart, the wholesale retail monopoly, focused on developing an RFID-based electronic product code, or EPC. The electronic code would allow businesses to track shipments and inventory automatically through a system of tags and sensors. It was a potential replacement for the manual scanning of bar codes, a technology that itself revolutionized retail two decades earlier. Given the nearly non-existent cost of bar codes relative to RFID, several in the industry said, the EPC was a solution in search of a problem. Wal-Mart view RFID technology in their SMART system as a

Today, RFID is used in retail, manufacturing, healthcare, agriculture, travel, entertainment, etc. RFID increases efficiency of operations, decreases reliance on manual process, improves asset visibility and traceability, reduces operation costs, and provides useful data for business analytics. There are many different reasons why companies and firms are beginning to make the switch to RFID, some examples are: automating inventory and asset-tracking in healthcare, manufacturing, retail, and business sectors; identifying the source of products, enabling intelligent recall of defective or dangerous items; prevent use of counterfeit products in the supply chain; improve shopping experience for consumers; provide visibility into the supply chain

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

The RFID market has continued to grow at a steady rate. According to a new RFID sector survey by IDTechEx Research, “The RFID market will reach $23.4 Billion in 2020. This includes tags, readers and software/services for RFID cards, labels, fobs and all other form factors - for both passive and active RFID.” (IDTechEx). RFID is a technology that will continue to play a critical role in a variety of industries as they both grow and develop.

RFID (radio frequency identification) is an new technology that threatens to take the place of bar codes in the supply chain world. The technology uses electromagnetic fields to automatically identify and track tags attached to objects. This innovation can provide many benefits in logistics and may revolutionize the entire industry. But, even though the technology provides many benefits, it also has many drawbacks and may not yet be developed enough to become the industry standard. The technology also may not be beneficial or cost effective for every business and will require a total overhaul of a businesses infrastructure, which can be extremely costly. Furthermore, both bar codes and RFID technology have many pros and cons, also industry may not be ready to implement RFID into their infrastructure.

INTRODUCTION: In June 2003 Wal-Mart first announced its plan to implement RFID technology in its supply chain by January 2005; this caught many of the suppliers unawares. Though the plans envisaged compliance from the top 100 suppliers, around 129 suppliers jumped into the fray, afraid of being left behind in the race. RFID technology was invented in 1969 and patented in 1973; after thirty long years WalMart has demanded its implementation. Expectations are high, unfortunately RFID technology is still in its infant stage.

Radio wave technology has been used since the Second World War but the first application of modern RFID technology came in 1983 when Charles A. Walton received the first patent for his ‘Portable radio frequency emitting identifier’ (US Patent Office, 1983). Since Walton’s patent, modern RFID technology has evolved at a startling rate with “approximately 1500 RFID patents issued between 1997 and 2010” (Mehrjerdi, 2010). The impact RFID has had on global commerce has been wide-spread. Many major industries have found ways to implement the technology into their business practices. Examples include but are not limited to: manufacturing, logistics and inventory control, national defense and commercial farming (FDA, 2015).

RFID has been used as an eventual successor to the barcode for tracking an individual unit of goods. RFID does not require direct line of sight to read a tag, and information on the tag is updatable. An RFID solution consists of four parts: the tag, reader, communication network and RFID software. The tag consists of a computer chip and an antenna for wireless communication with the handheld or fixed-position RFID reader, and the communication network connects the readers to transmit inventory information to the enterprise information system. The RFID software manages the collection, synchronization and communication of the data with warehouse management, ERP and supply-chain planning systems and

The purpose of this recommendation report is to determine what benefits radio frequency identification can add to our company. Many people think of RFID technology as a futuristic sci-fi way of tracking people and holding personal information. But RFID technology has become more common and has many applications this day in age. After researching the latest RFID technology, I have determined that it would help to cut costs in man hours and organizing products. We spend tons of money checking products and materials into inventory and tracking them through manual methods. Why do this when we can automate a system and cut that time to just a fraction of manual ways? My research has shown that many quality and efficiency leaders of the world have chosen to go to this system because of the benefits it provides. Right now we have ten technicians who receive completed outgoing products, count them, and input them into our inventory tracking spreadsheet. Now imagine one technician doing the same amount of work. They can walk up to a pallet of materials and can read what and how many products are on the pallet instantly. No counting, no sorting, and no manual adding of the materials would be required. In order to achieve this, we would need to do nothing more than buy RFID scanners, and add an RFID chip to the completed product.

Introduction: In many industries time is money. When time is money, you have to make sure that you are spending that time in the most effective and efficient manner. With RFID technology you can hit both of these points, making it a “two birds with one stone” scenario. When the systems are implemented properly (and properly is the key point) RFID technology is faster and more accurate than traditional methods of scanning and tracking.

Over the last few years the cost declines of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology, combined with improvements in sensitivity, range and durability, have enabled widespread RFID use in the logistical planning and operation segments of supply chain management processes. Specifically, areas such as security and access control, tracking, and monitoring/management will strategically be enhanced from the use of this technology. An RFID tag consists of a microchip and an antenna, often in the form of a tiny ribbon that can in turn be packaged into many forms, such as a label, or imbedded in between the cardboard layers in a carton. On the microchip is stored information about the product that the tag is affixed to, which can then be

This report will discuss what technology and innovation is and how important it is for firms to manage their technology to expand their growth potential. In addition to this, I am the current technology analyst at the Hunzal Logistics and Supply chain Management Company. The current technology we use to handle our logistics and flow of goods in our supply chain is the traditional barcode reader technology. This technology has been used for over 15 years now in Hunzal. The current CEO of Hunzal has seen discussion in the logistics and supply chain industry of this new radical technology known as the Radio Frequency Identification Device (RFID) and how it has benefited companies in significant ways. The CEO of Hunzal has given me the task to update him on the RFID technology. This report will investigate and propose how RFID is more beneficial than the traditional barcode reader system.

The cost advantages that METRO will possess with RFID will soon be gone due to competitors utilizing the same technology

In past few years the RFID technology has evolved rapidly, specifically in the field of supply chain. The vital application of RFID technology to business issues and leveraging its information can possibly advance discriminating methodologies, upgrade business discernment, and enhance cooperation crosswise over commercial ventures. (Klein, 2006) Also, supply chains today are helpless against

• 1. Become familiar with RFID technology and its potential uses in Harley-Davidson’s supply chain using the information presented in this chapter and information you obtain through the Online Companion links, your favorite search engine, and your library. In about 400 words, evaluate the advantages and disadvantages for Harley-Davidson of replacing its bar codes and scanners technology with RFID.