Show me the Money - RFID Metrics

Of late there has been a lot of "chatter" in the rfid airwaves in APAC, we see renewed interest from all stakehokders in the RFID ecosystem, this includes end users, hardware manufacturers, service providers including implementers and software and solution providers. as is often the case prior to blessing an undertaking the 100 million dollar question is about the 100 million yuan, rupee, yen, won - in other words "show me the money!!". An article in CXOtoday does give us some numbers, but not user numbers, these are current and potential market numbers, according to said article it is USD 170.3 million and a potential red erasing 646.3 million by 2013 (see article).

Where is the money .. ??

In order to measure ROI benefits for RFID, one needs to be able to first identify tracking and measurement metrics. this is easier said than done given the varied uses of rfid, since we restrict ourselves to Supply Chain RFID Applications it makes our task a little easier. As I see it there are levels of RFID adoption and the resultant benefits and automation that accrue. "" As companies evolve from deploying compliance mandates to actually enabing more granular rfid enabled transactions, the benefits also improve progressively. Of course we do not know the relationship in the cost and benefit economic graph, but it is safe to say that benefits are accruing and the few brave souls who have ventured to the more unexplored territory of rfid deplopyments are finding gems and treasure.

Metrics, Metrics, Metrics .. but what to use

So, how do companies track, measure and benchmark rfid deployments, these may be RFID Pilot vs. Old processes & technologies or they may be continuous improvement projects that are underway.

Why Standards ?

When we use standard metrics to measure performance, subsequent benchmarks conducted by organizations like WERC & Academic institutions allows for accurate benchmarking and a shared experience which will contribute to continuous improvement and result in manufacturing like six-sigma process in distribution and logistics. Standard metrics also allow for process efficiency benchmarking and labor selection, continuous improvement efforts.

Which Standards ?

As of this moment, there are a number of organizations which have approached the unenviable task of trying to abstract and record business processes and activities, then using the acticity to determine metrics. Of course there are the tried and tested metrics, such as the holy grail of fulfillment - "Perfect Order Fulfillment", this metric one feels is suitable for the Mid-Level RFID enablement, not the more granular processes, as you can see from the following figure, there are theoretical and proven benefits to the Perfect Order from RFID enablement.

Please stay tuned in for more Metrics - including using Fulfillment Cycles Activities and Metrics in the upcoming post..

Oracle RFID Applications - Addressing Pharma Pedigree, Authenticity Issues

This article introduces us to the issues of drug counterfeiting and diversion problems and stringent legislature for Pedigree requirements from State and Federal government. We also propose an approach using an RFID based solution to address these problems. Though some of these issues reflect the global nature of procurement and proliferation of piracy some have come in the wake of tightening legislation, for example Florida item-level serialization and e-pedigree requirements coming from California.

We propose a tactical and strategic roadmap leveraging current investments in RFID to reap benefits from the investment in the future. By using serial and lot genealogy, companies can tag, trace and measure the progress of their goods throughout their lifecycle, even through the reverse supply chain - returns, refurbishments.

In the US Pharmaceutical, Life science & Biotechnology Market, Counterfeits & Diversions (Marketed & Distributed target market mismatch) pose a major problem in identifying that the correct product is received by the buyer. In addition, Pedigree & Serialization Vision & Legislature is also starting to clamp up to ensure that products are tracked and authenticated through the supply chain. This means that companies have to tag and trace each product/lot as it moves from Source to Destination or Consumption in some cases. In addition to issues like damage, loss etc, there is the additional problem of Genuineness of the product when it is eventually received and that there has been no tampering or fraud.

RFID applications which have the capability to store, cross reference, track, maintain an audit trace and authenticate the product, whether through serial, lot or case tracking and tagging will provide the most efficient long term solution for all geographic, economic, trade and physical requirements. Genealogy, the act of tracing a product from production to assembly and beyond is a capability that is required in order to be able to perform the required tracking, in addition, event driven tracking actions can also be used to determine shipping, transportation exceptions.
Coupled to Partner data interchange where the EPC is linked to an ASN, the same system can be used to validate authenticity of goods during receipt. Of course the authentication issue is rather best solved by a standards body and a proposal much like PGP of encrypting the code is one of the discussions on how to resolve this. the EPC Standards body could be proposed to be the holder to partner encrypting and decrypting keys which can be used to authenticate lots or serials as they are read. This undoubtedly places a burden on the application that is processing the tags and also opens up questions as to how to enable the dual purposes of event, location awareness with authentication.

Oracle RFID Logistics solutions provide customers with a proven Edge Server platform, BPEL capabilities embedded in the SES and Solutions with Oracle Supply Chain Execution products. The logistics applications allow tagging and tracking from manufacturing to assembly to distribution and shipping, while SES allows for flexibility, BPEL driven implementations with a view for the future. For more details refer to O.com and the section on RFID and Supply Chain Execution products.

Hope you find this first post interesting and food for thought.