Just like with any new technology first comes the hype, then reality settles. What is RFID? It sounds very futuristic and it brings up pictures of the advertisement where a guy walks into the super market dumps products into the cart and walks through a gate which looks like a metal detector, only to be stopped a security guard who hands the forgotten receipt that the gate printed to the guy.

That would be a nice scenario, and possibly in the future it could be like that. For now though, RF Barcoding and SAPConsole is evolving into RFID. This means that companies who implement this technology will be getting rid of barcodes. Instead of Barcodes, individual product items, cases and pallets will be having an RFID tag, a small transmitter which when passed through an RFID Reader it will record the transaction, whether that is a product removal, a product placement/putaway, transfer or delivery.

Many believe and announce that there will be absolutely no manual input from the users in these readers. That would depend on the transaction, the functionality, the business process need and the solution developed around this. The hype claims that Inventories will be perfectly accurate with no errors. The reality is that all systems have weaknesses and errors will occur and inventories will not be 100% accurate. This hype for inventory accuracy existed also when RF Barcoding was being promoted as the next big thing . There will be an improvement and possibly increased productivity if the users do not have to enter any manual data or search for a barcode to scan.

What does this mean for new systems?

SAP announced that they support RFID. A SAP customer will need the Java-based RFID solution which packages the new SAP Auto-ID Infrastructure, SAP Event Management (SAP EM), a component of mySAP!" Supply Chain Management (mySAP SCM), and SAP Enterprise Portal (SAP EP), a component of SAP NetWeaver.

A SAP customer will also need to think about other hardware and software, like the RFID tags to be placed on the products, cases, or pallets. They will also need RFID readers, which come in different sizes and flavors such as handheld, vehicle mounted, wall mounted or mounted on conveyor belts in warehouses.

In addition they will need to think about WiFi equipment, cards and access points which would facilitate the communication of the tags, the readers and SAP.

The pioneers in this arena were DoD (the US Department of Defense), WalMart in the USA and METRO discount superstores in Germany. Thanks to these initial investment and research and development today there is increased anxiety among corporations to catch up with the new technology.

Employment-wise it means that there are all sorts of new opportunities for consultants like us. New budgets and projects will create a new demand. Since this is so new, consulting rates will be on the high end and offshoring will not be possible. Such projects will need the consultant to be physically present at the implementation site. Aggressive and accurate blueprinting and vigorous testing must take place for this technology to be successful.

In conclusion, RFID is a welcoming evolution of the RF Barcoding. It will improve productivity and inventory accuracy, but it will not be panacea. For RFID to be implemented successfully, you the customer, must make sure to employ only the best consultants with experience in this arena. Avoid hiring based solely on the hourly rate to be paid. Look and evaluate the level of experience the consultant brings to the table.

As the name suggests, Evolutionary Consulting is all about Evolution and in this instance RF Barcoding is evolving to RFID.

If you have a project planned to implement RFID, RF Barcoding, SAPConsole, SCM, WM, SD, MM, or other Logistics related processes, please do contact Evolutionary

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