RFID Agent Technology for the Supply Chain (Smart Labels Europe 2004)

 

Profits are under pressure in almost every sector of the economy as fickle and demanding customers drive down prices. From fashion retailing to heavy engineering there is increasing pressure on businesses to cut costs while improving customer service. How can this paradox be resolved? For organisations with complex supply chains adoption of RFID might be the answer.

 

Today's retailers, manufacturers, logistics operators and sub-contractors sit in network of interdependent relationships extended throughout the globe. These networks link the physical movement of goods with a constant stream of documents and status reports - inventory counts and loading notes; advanced shipping notices and house air-bills. Each needs to be reconciled with the real world through a combination of manual labour and electronic data interchange (EDI) systems.

 

This presents an opportunity to reconcile cutting costs with improved customer service by improving collaboration throughout the supply chain. Better information means fewer requirements for buffer stocks and better availability of product for end users.

 

To date, RFID has been deployed successfully as a point solution to automate existing manual scanning processes. But the technology can facilitate much more than this. Combined with the latest agent-based IT platforms, we finally have the power to move:

 

 

 

Open standards now permit RFID data exchange and synchronisation within multi-site organisations and throughout value networks of suppliers, customers and logistics providers.

 

Successful supply chains of the future will leverage RFID to make this a reality but the use of agent technology and distributed intelligence will make the implementation of the EPC network substantially simpler and quicker than that of EDI.