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Radio Frequency Identification
(RFID) is an IT tool designed
to meet the needs of data collection. RFID systems can
directly improve inventory management (by decreasing inventory levels and
reducing holding costs and spoilage), thereby resulting in increased
profitability. They may also have indirect effects on business
performance through the lowering of coordination and administrative costs and the
enhancing of decision-making and forecasting accuracies. RFID can
ensure significant cost savings in supply chain management and also
facilitate effective execution of the marketing mix strategy.
Today, the retail industry is facing serious challenges due to
rapidly changing market conditions, fueled by increasing global
competition and higher expectations of customers. RFID technology is being
offered as a tool to revolutionize the way business gets done because of
its broad impact on manufacturing, logistics, material handling,
inventory tracking and management. The potential benefits of RFID are,
therefore, numerous for all stakeholders in the retailing business.
RFID uses a wireless system to track products, parts, expensive items
and temperature-and time-sensitive goods. Transponders, or RFID
tags, are attached to objects. The transponders identify themselves when
they detect a signal from a reader that emits a radio frequency
transmission. Each RFID tag carries information, such as the item's code
number, color, supplier or other types of data. When these tags pass through a
field generated by a compatible reader, they transmit this information, to
the reader, thereby identifying the object. |
