Adoption Of The Supply Chain Management

In addition, Metro estimated that with the increased accuracy of the cases shipped to the stores it would greatly reduce if not eliminate the need to send product back to the DC or worse, throw it out. Another beneficiary of the RFID tagging at the case level would be restocking at the stores. Due to the lag between products being received in the stock room in the mornings and the sales floor being restocked at night, the chances that the store would be under stocked were great. Using an RFID reader in conjunction with point of sale data, the store personnel would easily track inventory levels and restock more efficiently. The restocking efficiency was estimated to boost gross sales by .05% which would result in an increase in gross profit of €.05 per additional product sold.

One of Walmart’s most recent applications of information technology is the use of radio frequency identification or RFID. These tags can be used for all sorts of applications, but in the retail industry this they are used to track packages or individual products from the factory all the way to the sell. The tag itself emits a small radio signal that a server picks up and uses to identify the tag. These tags are placed on the product or package after assembly at the factory. The RFID servers tells the computers when the product has been shipped out. Warehouses do the same thing to determine then the package is entered and when it leaves for the store. At the store, computers use the tags to make inventory easier for clerks and are usually taken off once the package is sold. In some cases the RFID label is sometimes used to see exactly where the package is in route while shipping, provided they have the proper equipment. Information technology has been instrumental in the success at Walmart throughout its history.

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.

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).

The RFID system will open new sales opportunities to larger markets such as the Department of Defense (DoD) and Wal-Mart. Who are now demanding that RFID tracking as a condition of contracting.

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

It also implemented throughout the healthcare industry. Some practices are using it to track and locate supplies to improve the overall efficiency of their inventory management process. Hospitals even use RFID on surgical tools to help reduce lost utensils.

On January 23, 1973 Mario W. Cardullo received the first U.S. patent for an active RFID tag rewriteable memory. In the same year, a California entrepreneur named Charles Walton, received a patent for a passive transponder used to unlock a door without a key (Roberti, "The History of RFID Technology"). This type of RFID is used with most companies today. There is a chip embedded in each personal name tag; when the employee goes to enter the

Another important fact is supplier involvement with RFID implementation. Walmart’s top 300 suppliers are required to put the tags on products, if they want to conduct business at Walmart. The average cost per tag is less than 20 cents. Supplier’s using the tag’s benefit by communicating immediate information to the retailer and product manufactures giving Walmart the competitive leverage in retail industry by inventory control. RFID implementation benefits the entire logistics operation and supply chain management.

RFID (radio frequency identification) is a 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 be developed enough to become industry standard. The technology also may not be beneficial or cost effective for every business and will require a total overhaul of 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.

RFID technology can offer many advantages to suppliers, retailers, and consumers including “improved accuracy in managing inventory, improved visibility of orders and inventory, reduced costs for logistical operations, improved customer service, improved security, and improved efficiency of business operations” (Park et al. 2010, p. 684). RFID technology provides real time inventory tracking

RFID, or radio frequency identification, is the new system that is replacing the use of barcodes. RFID tags allow users to more quickly obtain information from the object that the RFID tag

The problem being addressed in this proposal should be a serious concern to you and the shareholders of Intel. Numerous competitors have entered the market over the last decade that have been profiting on the cheap labor tactics found in Asia. In order for Intel to remain an industry leader in the future, innovative supply chain solutions need to be made. The first step to innovating Intel’s supply chain starts with RFID technology.

RFID technology is not only used at gas stations, restaurants, and department but also at

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.