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Deploying RFID: the bigger picture

By: Simon Holloway
Format: White Paper
Published: June 2007

PDF document Free Download (subject to terms)

For manufacturers and retailers, the business benefits of RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) are compelling. Not only does adding RFID technology to many environments increase operational efficiency, but it provides total supply chain visibility, offers better asset tracking to help reduce internal theft, flags errors and container tampering issues, and enables better processes for product status verification.

As convincing as the benefits of a fully realized RFID solution are, end-users, application developers, systems integrators, and device manufacturers continue to experience many obstacles to development and adoption. The obstacles include difficulty in configuring and managing devices, making sense of raw RFID data, a lack of standards, a confusing variety of access protocols, and limited integration with an organization’s existing systems such as ERP systems, WMS systems and so on. Complexity of translating data into meaningful business events and difficulty in ensuring scalable solutions are also common roadblocks.

This white paper looks at the processes involved in the deployment of RFID by taking the “Bigger Picture” route. It identifies the challenges that have to be solved from a business and technical standpoint in terms of:

  • The Complete process from pilot to roll-out;
  • The Selection of Tags, readers and printers (The Hardware);
  • The Site Survey (The Environment);
  • The Selection of RFID Software (The Middleware);
  • The need for Integration;
  • Security and Privacy.