RFID Assessment (Diagnostic)
Executive Overview
- Minimize stock outs and inventory write-offs by improving demand forecast accuracy (enabled by ability to “see” what products customers have bought as well as where and when.
- Increase distribution center productivity and automate inventory data capture and verification to streamline inventory management at the case and pallet level
- Minimize inventory losses by reducing shrinkage with proper monitoring and management.
- Create collaborative data sharing environments-enterprise-wide and with trading partners-to analyze trends and enhance supply chain event management.
- Reduce returns and warranty costs by leveraging advanced tag capabilities with extended attribute electronic product codes (ePCs) to verify where and when product was purchased
The RFID (radio-frequency identification) diagnostic for supply chain management in the Consumer Industries & Retail (CI&R) environment is comprised of two tracks. The business tract assesses current supply chain performance to investigate and quantify areas for improvement and value creation including accuracy, cycle time compression and cost avoidance. This tract also quantifies potential implementation cost and the roadmap to achieve the value creation. The physics tract assesses the on-site physical environment and the product’s physical characteristics to optimize implementation.
The total RFID implementation enables retailers and their suppliers to track and share inventory data at the case and pallet level across the supply chain. The future managed services solution will allow the consolidation of multiple data sources (e.g., warehouse management, procurement, and supply chain systems) into a single view to improve accuracy and better support supply chain collaboration. This system is enabled by placing RFID tag readers in various locations of the supply chain, which then capture the radio signals from RFID chips (placed in each case/pallet) and report what the item is and where it is at specific points in time.
In the assessment phase, we will create a compliance path to help CPG’s satisfy Wal-Mart, Target and Albertson’s by performing the following:
- Design processes and implement technology that the client wants today
- Develop pilots to prove concept and to understand how to drive payback for the CPG suppliers
- Develop a phased approach to get to full production. The phased approach allows the client to achieve minimal compliance using technology available today, while allowing the client to postpone the decision on which technology to deploy widely (until standards and technology reach maturity).