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..