Term Paper on "How it Helps Shoppers With RFID Tags"

Term Paper 8 pages (2550 words) Sources: 8

[EXCERPT] . . . .

RFID

The Use and Potential of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) in Retail and Support Settings

In the increasingly globalized world of commerce and trade, the arena of supply chain management has loomed ever larger in terms of importance to operations for all manner of business, and has also continued to grow more and more complex. Not only are the logistics of production, shipping, warehousing, distributing, and finally selling to end consumers more arduous and practically difficult as trade networks and relationships become more complicated, but the tracking and quality management of product care at each step in this process also becomes more demanding as workloads and third-party service usage increase. Information and communication technologies have helped to make this complex system of global trade possible, and continue to assist it in running more smoothly and efficiently, though there are always still improvements that can be made in this regard.

When it comes to the tracking and quality management of product handling throughout the supply chain, very real little progress has been made since the development of barcodes -- an important advancement that is still utilized by almost every industry to enhance the efficiency and the consistency of handling, but with certain problems. Barcode scanning requires very specific and sometimes expensive resources in terms of factory or warehouse layouts, scanning machines, precision, etc. A new technology has emerged over the past two decades that has solved many of the lingering problems with barcodes, enhancing the capabilities of scanning techniques and thus expanding the functionality and potential applications for such technologies and devices. Like any new technology, however, adoption has been slow and in many ways slightly haphazard; despite the recognized potential of this technology, developing ways to actually utilize and apply it in cost-effective manners as a part of complex operations has remained elusive.

The following pages will provide a brief overview of this technology, known as radio frequency identification (RFID), and its current use in the area of supply chain management. More specifically, this paper will examine the ways in which RFID use can and will assist retail establishments in tracking products in order to achieve greater efficiency and consistency in a variety of operations, from product ordering and stocking to loss prevention to sales tracking and even improving checkout speeds and reducing labor costs. Though RFID is not used extensively in retail operations at the current time, its use in other parts of the supply chain that directly support retail objectives and strategies has increased significantly in recent years, and these developments will also be discussed both as background and as suggestions of potential modified uses in retails settings. Through this examination, it will be made clear that RFID should be implemented on a much broader scale over the coming decade, which will bring the utility of the technology up and the cost down.

RFID Technology: An Overview

In simplest terms, RFID tags work in a manner very similar to that of barcodes, providing unique identifiers (though through specified radio signals, not visual lines) for anything they are attached to (Spotlight on: RFID, n.d.). The RFID tag, which is itself a changing part of the technology (more on this below), is somehow attached to or embedded in the product, box, case, or other item being tracked. While powered, the RFID tag gives off a specific identifying radio signal of weak strength and limited radius, identifying the product/box/case/etc. with a range of potential information, from specific product type to lot number and more (Spotlight on: RFID, n.d.). As barcodes grew more sophisticated the amount of information they were able to contain and transmit also increased significantly, but scanning limitations still proved a persistent problem.

It is the fact that the RFID tag gives off a radio signal rather than being a static element that must be actively scanned marks the major difference between this technology and barcode technologies, not only in how the technologies themselves operate but in the functionality of the technology in real-world applications, as well. Because the radio signal is transmitted in a wide (though still very short-range) radius, it can be read by a receiver/"interpreter" situated anywhere within the proximity of the radio signal and not just, as is the case with the current widely-used technology, by a scanner that must be not only within inches of the barcode but that must also be physically pointed at the barcode with a fair amount of precision (Spotlight on: RFID, n.d.). This opens up many new realms of efficiency and of potential applications for RFID, with the ability to read multiple tags simultaneously (or perhaps more accurately, in incredibly rapid succession that is simultaneous for all practical purposes) and at greater distances eliminating the need for the item-by-item scanning required with barcodes (Spotlight on: RFID, n.d.; Totty, 2009; Swedberg, 2012).

This is not to say the some physical movement can't be employed to enhance usefulness still further; the short-range of RFID tags does limit the distance to which a receiver can be in order to record the tag (Spotlight on: RFID, n.d.). This short-range is not a shortcoming but rather an essential part of the functionality of RIFD tags, however. Though there are applications where longer-range transmission might be useful, it is the movement of tagged items that generally needs to be tracked, and for this short-range is best as it prevents the continued reading of items after they have passed a certain gate, or before they have entered (Swedberg, 2012; Totty, 2009). If a receiver doesn't stop reading a tag until the delivery vehicle is thirty yards away, for instance, it will be impossible to make sure the truck was properly loaded by checking of RFID tags as they "disappear."

Any description of RIFD technology must include the degree at which this technology is still developing. While the basic functionality of RFID tags has not changed since the concept arose, the mechanisms that allow for this functionality -- most especially the tags themselves -- have undergone significant developments (Garby, 2012; Nusca, 2010; Rothfeder, n.d.). For some time all RFID devices were embedded in relatively large plastic housing devices and were unsuitable for use with many different products and in many different industries, however upgrades to different material classes are making more applications for RFID devices possible, and are also improving the efficiency and the accuracy of transmission according to some (Garby, 2012). Cost and size reductions in the technology has also made them more appropriate for more diverse settings and applications; perhaps the most exciting move in this area is the development of printable RFID tags that use carbon nanotubes as a power supply and a semi-conducting ink for the tag itself (Rothfeder, n.d.; Nusca, 2010). This makes the tags almost as simple on the manufacturing end as barcodes, without losing any of the functionality seen in other RFID tags (Nusca, 2012).

Current Uses

As mentioned above, there still has not been a widespread use of RFID tags in retail settings, despite their successful use in other areas of the supply chain. Wal-Mart and several other large retailers have attempted to use the technologies in warehousing and distribution, some of them quite extensively, however in-store use for the control of day-to-day operations transactions at the customer or managerial level remains very much under-represented given the possibilities (Spotlight on: RFID, n.d.; Malone, 2012; Rothfeder, n.d.). RFID technology use really emerged in -- and to a large degree has remained a part of -- wholesaling endeavors, with the tracking of inventory in warehouses and onto and off of delivery vehicles the primary direct use, which in turn has been integrated into ordering systems, logistics planning, sales tracking, and more (Spotlight on: RFID, n.d.; Malone, 2012; Rothfeder, n.d.; Swedberg, 2012). Thus, simply by using RFID technology in the tracking of how much of what specific products is shipped where and when -- something was accomplished on a small scale in some industries with barcodes, but that is far more efficient and practically feasible as well as reliable with RFID technology -- a great deal of information can be gather that helps to improve logistics, increase efficiency, and reduce costs.

Other efficiency-increasing applications for RFID technologies exist, and are increasing as the size and cost of the RFID tags themselves continue to decrease. One researcher describes an office setting that uses RFID-tagged files with receivers embedded in the ceilings that can help office workers track down necessary paperwork in a more efficient manner, and a large multinational bank that uses RFID tagging on data storage equipment as a security measure, ensuing that these units remain within specific physical locations to prevent theft and the unauthorized access of data (Totty, 2009). A large telecommunications company uses the technology to inventory equipment in a warehouse setting by moving mobile receivers past racks of tagged equipment, in a "mobile collection" process that greatly reduces labor hours and accuracy in inventorying (Swedberg, 2012). Both of these applications make use of the capability in RFID technology… READ MORE

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