Supply Chain RFID implementation has admittedly lagged behind its ambitious forecasts... and with good reason. What good is RFID to a link in a chain if the rest of the chain is without?  Even if the entire chain employs RFID, what ensures that information is interchangeable, mutually decipherable, and hence, adds value?  Effective use of RFID in Supply Chain (specifically for the purposes of Supply Chain and not miscategorized Manufacturing RFID or internal Asset Tracking RFID) inherently requires standardization. EPC Global and other standard bearers continue to carry the torch of universality through UID initiatives. The Holy Grail of Supply Chain RFID is within view. A fully automated system that simplfies shipping, receiving, logistics, distribution and stocking.

RFID is the ideal technology for streamlining supply chain. As raw materials become engineered materials, engineered materials become components, and components are assembled into final products, the location of each object in space and time is crucial to effective logistics.

Incoming Raw Materials

As a raw material is mined or created, RFID tags can be applied in an effort to generate immediate transparency even in the earliest stages of a supply chain. An RFID tag attached to incoming raw materials provides a rendering or refining operation information about the product, where it has been, and where it is going. If raw materials arrive at such an entity without tagging, all is not lost, but in the world of Supply Chain RFID, the earlier in the process tagging is utilized, the more value is realized by all links forward. Many raw materials are metallic or contained in metallic receptacles. Metaltag Flex is designed to adhere to all surfaces including the curved surfaces of drums, cans and cylinders with reliable, long range reads from a handheld or fixed reader.

Component & Subcomponent Manufacturers

Raw materials make their way down the chain to secondary and tertiary manufacturers, who receive, add value, and ship.  When the incoming material(s) are RFID encoded with Unique IDentifiers, and the manufacturer in question employs RFID with a middleware package that is capable of understanding the language used up the chain.  The time & money required for logisitics is VASTLY reduced.

Work in Progress

RFID can be used to track parts on an item level, collections of parts on a package level, collections of packages on a pallet level, collections of pallets on a container level, etc.   Current location as well as quality control checks can be tracked using RFID in the WIP environment.  Material handling systems can be integrated with RFID to provide automatic routing to incoming, in-line, or outgoing materials.

Inventory Control

RFID increases visibility of inventory, but more importantly, it increases the confidence in inventory levels.  Less stock is needed on hand, machines have less down time, and timing overlaps can be cut closer.  RFID’s line of sight freedom allows for complete logistics and inventory automation, simply by employing the tag already installed upchain.

Finished goods

RFID can be used to track the type and quantity of finished goods leaving the plant until they arrive at distrubution or the end customer’s dock.  The retailer's inventory control becomes automated.  Reordering, restocking, point-of-sale, quality and returns can all be automated. 

In a way, RFID's greatest hurdle and greatest eventual achievement is Supply Chain.  Whatever the business, whether up-chain raw material supplier, mid-chain manufacturer or down-chain retailer, logistics/inventory/quality can be completely automated by putting a portal on a loading dock door, and retaining a software system that can assimilate the information coming from up the chain.