Vendor attitudes evolve concerning RFID technology's immediate future
By Staff -- Manufacturing Business Technology, 11/1/2005 7:00:00 AM
Visitors to the EPCglobal US 2005 conference in Atlanta had a clear window on evolving attitudes toward RFID technology and its immediate prospects in manufacturing and supply chain. Says Alex Stuebler, business manager, RFID, Siemens Energy & Automation, "The time for pilots is past. Now it's time for users to invest so that in two years they're ready to meet expanded requirements for these systems."
Stuebler believes the challenges related to RFID physical requirements can be met using "intelligent algorithms" and "intelligent readers" that can increase read rates and make problems with false positive reads manageable. More than that, he adds, a single standard for RFID data worldwide is needed. "But given a market, the infrastructure will be provided, and in five years a product will be able to go around the world and be read anywhere."
Greg Gilbert, director of RFID solutions and strategies for Manhattan Associates, says the vendor is seeing applications for 1) pure compliance, usually with a retailer's requirements; 2) automated warehouse management functions to move product into the distribution channel; and 3) supply chain visibility. Gilbert verifies the number of supply chain visibility deployments is, to this point, limited.
"We're spending a lot of time learning how to deal with the data coming back from retailers," says Gilbert, "and it is very telling, for example, regarding stock positions, corrective actions related to stock-outs, and validating transit times."
Mark Eischens, product manager of RFID solutions for HighJump Software, says the supply chain execution vendor is finding RFID applications in unexpected places, including yard management and asset management.
"Companies can meet compliance standards very easily with minimum investment," asserts Eischens, "but the looked-for economies of scale needed for tag prices to come down haven't occurred. The good news is this stuff works, and the remaining issues will be solved."
