Seminar paper from the year 2005 in the subject Business economics - Supply, Production, Logistics, grade: 1,3, European Business School - International University Schloß Reichartshausen Oestrich-Winkel (Suppply Management Institute), course: Seminar of Logistics and Business Engineering, language: English, abstract: Today’s businesses face a dynamic and competitive environment which results in an ever increasing pressure on them to innovate, reinvent processes, and leverage the potential of supply chain partnerships. Current supply chain trends, as mentioned by McFarlane and Sheffi, include globalization, outsourcing, stock keeping unit (SKU) proliferation, and shorter product lifecycles.1 To enable these trends and to master the inherent challenges, companies must at all times have information and visibility about shipments, products and progress. Yet, this strongly needed information and visibility is not limited to the internal company supply chain but rather along the entire supply chain from the original supplier to the end customer. Thus, external supply chain integration on the basis of fine granularity of data has to be one of the primary objectives in today’s supply chain management efforts. One of the emerging technologies offering a solution for this aim is Radiofrequency Identification (RFID). RFID can facilitate automating and streamlining identification processes. This means more checkpoints along the supply chain can be established at decreased costs. However, not limited to that purpose, the technology offers additional benefits which make it superior to the automatic identification (Auto-ID) technology of the barcode currently in widespread use. Nonetheless, RFID is only a data-collection technology which must be integrated with the supply chain management systems of the companies. Furthermore, along the supply chain various information systems must be integrated in order to give a meaning to the data and to allow for information exchange. Although RFID technology has originally been developed decades ago, the industrial use of RFID in large scale supply chain operations has until now been prohibited due to the relatively high costs compared to other Auto-ID solutions. Recent mandates of large retail companies, such as WalMart and Metro Group, force suppliers in the position where they have to implement the technology without proper knowledge about it. Additionally, there are still several technical as well as rather political barriers to be solved. This seminar paper deals with RFID technology introduction and impacts on supply chain management systems in order to give an insight into the current issues and status of the technology.

This edited book describes new trends in supply chain design and management with an emphasis on technologies and methodologies. It contains guidelines detailing the real-world applications of these technologies and methodologies. This book is of interest to researchers and practitioners and can also be used as a reference handbook by lecturers and postgraduate students in this field.

"... Examines five RFID projects carried out by companies operating in different industries. The presentation and discussion of the results will help to better understand what RFID can deliver, what deficiencies companies reveal and where its application in supply chain operations is sensible and likely to occur"--P. ii.

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tagging is now mandated by the department of defense and many of the world's largest retailers including Wal-Mart. In order to stay competitive, more than 200,000 manufacturers and suppliers must develop strategies for integrating RFID technologies into their supply chains. RFID in Logistics: A Practical Introd

In today's hyper-competitive business climate, organizations are always under pressure to adapt to new technological trends or "hot" business process models. Radio frequency identification (RFID) is one such trend that promises to revolutionize logistical systems and provide total-lifecycle tracking of products. However, blindly adopting RFID technology without thoroughly considering its impact is just as dangerous as not adopting it at all. Based on the author's experience testing and implementing RFID technology in both industrial and military cases, RFID Metrics: Decision Making Tools for Today's Supply Chains explains how to evaluate the need for this technology. The author focuses on the problems RFID is meant to solve, if such problems exist in your organization, and the metrics you can use to make effective decisions. After establishing what RFID is and how it fits into the systems concept, the book discusses current RFID applications around the world, reveals key metrics for decision making as well as how to develop new metrics unique to RFID, demonstrates a war game for exploring RFID, and presents statistical methods for analyzing the data collected from the war games or gathered during implementation. While other books focus on the nuts and bolts of the technology, RFID Metrics is the first book to outline a detailed method for analyzing and deciding if RFID is right for your organization.

This book constitutes the proceedings from the 20th Tyrrhenian Workshop on Digital Communications, held September 2009 in Pula, Sardinia, Italy and focused on the "Internet of Things."