RFId in supply chain management: Is the game worth the candle?

Abstract

Globalization of economy has broken trade barriers and improvements in information technology (IT) have given good greasing to the global trade by easing the flow of information between trading partners. The ability to utilize IT to ease trade has become an important issue. The current scenario of competition is not among companies, but among companies' supply chain partners. Connective technologies have a great potential to integrate customers, information, and products across conventional supply chain boundaries, including management of manufacturing operations. Introducing Radio Frequency Identification (RFId) in supply chain has reflected a major technological advancement towards future gains by top business companies, hi this study, we examine the use of RFId technology in a supply chain (SC) and investigate its effectiveness and efficiency. The redesigned business process by implementing RFId technology to the members of a SC is investigated. The various factors affecting the SC, the challenges, and the solutions after applying RFId technology to a supply chain are also outlined. Practical applications related to tracking the movement of goods in diverse industrial sectors reflect the effectiveness of this technology. The analysis shows how pioneer implementers of RFId technology have improved the efficiency of SC and gained an edge over their competitors because of the reduced inventories. The initial pain of RFId implementation is outweighed by gains in long-term. © 2012 Springer India Pvt. Ltd.