Role and Implementation of Rfid and Barcodes

Role and Implementation of RFID and Barcode System

Assignment No. 1

Name: Syeda Anum Zehra

ID: 3958

Program: MBA

Subject: Supply Chain Management

Lecturer: Ibtihaj Abbas Khan

Date of Submission: July 25, 2015

Role of RFID:

RFID stands for Radio-frequency identification which provides detailed tracking information on objects. It involves tags that are small chips which can be attached to most objects. A special reader is used to retrieve data from the tags that emits radio waves. RFID is ideal for supply chain management because it quickly identifies a particular object at a location.

A. Role of RFID in Supplier Relationship Management Activities

1) Design collaboration:

Design collaboration joins products with suppliers. It helps overcome costly delays that might happen. It helps enable suppliers to control level of communication and information sharing because RFID is designed to collect, gather and track information about all the material and products flowing across the supply chain.

2) Supply collaboration: After establishing an agreement between the buyer and the supplier, they with the help of supply collaboration, work together on forecasting, production plans, and inventory levels to improve the supply chain .

3) Upstream logistics: The RFID plays the role of tracking products for their location and controlling quality, as well as gives the real time status of assembly during production

B. Role of RFID in Internal SC Management Activities

Errors like sending products to wrong places can be eliminated with the help of data obtained from. Fulfillment of demands and knowing the right time in the market helps enhance the production strategies by aiding in order routing, resource assignment, among other things.

C. Role of RFID in Customer Relationship Management Activities

FRID also plays an important role in keeping the customers satisfied and loyal by catering to the needs of customers while increasing sales of organizations as the competition grows.

Implementation of RFID:

1. Get educated. Utilize industry publications and analyst firms to gain a comprehensive understanding of RFID to understand its purpose and what its used for. Furthermore, a lot can also be learnt about RFID and its implications from valuable conferences that companies conduct.

2. Put together an RFID task force. Create specialized RFID task force for planning, designing and implementing RFID strategies that can ultimately help a company meet its goals.

3. Don't oversell immediate benefits. Committing to big savings using RFID can cause to be a career-limiting step as RFID is fast moving tech and still evolving with unanticipated costs.

4. Plan for future. Many companies who are using and complying RFID technology should not limit their focus and look beyond what is asked for and plan for ahead. Companies need to implement such a RFID platform that can adapt with changing environment and their business strategies, and connect the flow of information through various departments like ERP system.

5. Communicate with software companies. Companies implementing RFID need to acquire information from software companies if the technology can be integrated with ERP system. You want a tie-in, not a quick fix.

6. Communicate with trading partners: Work together with the supply chain partners to make sure that RFID strategies will support their RFID strategy.

7. Communicate with vendors. Companies should make sure their vendors have strong understanding for RFID. Do they have the initiatives and authority by other suppliers? They need to ensure that vendors can accommodate with their needs.

8. Know what you want to tag. Companies should think about what level to tag. Whether to go for item level or the pallet level? Tag price and volume should be taken into consideration.

9. Pilot Program. Companies should first run a beta version of RFID pilot program to better comprehend the process of the business and how daily operations can be influenced by tech. After succeeding in this stage, broader external pilot program can be implemented.

10. Monitor and Control your results.  Track the details of what works and what does not by comparing it with the set goals and expectations. That way, the understanding gained from the Pilot Program can be better translated into production success.

Role of Barcode:

A barcode is a series of black bars separated by white spaces of different widths, printed on labels that are used to uniquely identify items. A scanner is used to read the labels which interpret the lines into numbers and letters and pass them on a computer.

Barcodes are used for maintaining stock of large number of inventory products can be maintained with the help of barcodes and are used in various different industries like hospitals,, book stores, super stores, malls, post offices, hotels, etc.

Barcodes are also used to track and information ( like name, price and quantity) of stock, products and inventories in the supply chain in a computerized manner.

Fast and Reliable Data Collection: 

Faster Data Entry: A barcode scanner enables efficient and effective data entry that is five to seven times as fast as a highly skilled typist.

10,000 Times better Accuracy: 

Keyboard data entry is prone to error. Averaging  one error in 300 keystrokes. Barcode data entry eliminates the chances of error.