Given the tremendous business potential RFID / EPC™ and RTLS solutions offer, we believe the broad adoption is not a matter of if, but when? The speed of adoption will vary by industry and will be driven by the influence and relative success of early adopters, the maturity and robustness of the technology, the speed of standards deployment and ultimately the value proposition for individual companies. We believe RFID will follow an evolutionary path that is similar to the introduction of other technologies, such as the bar code, EDI, point of sale systems, etc.
With the recent introduction of UHF Gen. 2, we believe that a major technology barrier has been passed. This in combination with the lower RFID tag costs has made it possible to deploy early adopter pilots and broader implementations. Mieloo & Alexander have been a leading system integrator by delivering some of the most renowned RFID projects in the world.
- Mieloo & Alexander delivered the largest RTLS solution in the world in finished vehicle logistics
   
- Mieloo & Alexander delivered an integrated video and RFID solution for Sony Logistics Europe
Based on our experience over the years in delivering technology enabled business improvement, we expect that the accelerated adoption of RFID / EPC™ and RTLS solutions will depend on the current status and progress made of:
- technology readiness and robustness
- international standards
- overall costs of RFID infrastructure / business case ROI
- possible industry compliance / mandates / early adopters
Technology readiness and robustness
Companies require confidence in the performance of new enabling technologies before they will rely on these technologies to mange their mission critical operations. Over the last 18 months, particularly with the introduction of UHF Gen. 2 technology, RFID read performance, tag quality, RFID reader and antenna performance and RFID network infrastructure and middleware software has improved dramatically. We believe that the overall technology readiness and robustness has now passed the critical barrier enabling companies to deploy mission critical operations on RFID technology.
International standards
In order to be able to adopt RFID technology across supply chains on a global scale the availability of international standards and a standardisation organisation is essential. These international standards can be sub divided in 2 categories:
Technology standards
Open accessible and mature technology standards for RFID infrastructure such as: readers, tags and the network infrastructure to connect the physical infrastructure with enterprise applications and business processes.
Data standards
Standards and formats and technical convention for accessing and sharing data and business events generated from RFID, across internal enterprise business processes and with external trading partners.
The UHF Generation 2 Air Interface Protocol (technology standard) was ratified as an EPCglobal Standard in December 2004. Some of the requirements for this standard were:
- Convergence to One Global, Interoperable Standard
- Increased Speed and Ease of Global Adoption
- Increased Functionality and Performance
- Increased Production and Competition
The UHF Gen. 2 standards have been accepted by ISO.
Overall costs of RFID infrastructure / business case ROI
In our experience in delivering technology enabled solutions, leading companies across multiple industries will evaluate the investments and the potential value of the business benefits before considering large scale deployments.
Over the last 18 months we have seen a significant decrease in RFID infrastructure cost, particularly in tags making it possible for more industry sectors to consider item level tagging. Obviously the individual business case for RFID adoption will vary considerably by industry, geography, product category and across individual companies. Mieloo & Alexander have developed a RFID implementation methodology with which we can assist our clients in assessing the value of RFID / EPC™ and RTLS solutions. (find out about Mieloo & Alexander’s RFID implementation methodology)
Possible industry compliance / mandates / early adopters
The existence of industry compliance and/or mandates can have a significant impact on driving adoption of RFID technology. Most compliance and mandates have so far been applicable for the United States and less in Europe. However it is expected that adoption will be highly accelerated if an influential group of early adopters demonstrates and shares its successes with industry colleagues. In Europe the Metro Group has announced ambitious plans to implement UHF RFID technology in their supply chains. Other multinationals have already deployed UHF RFID / EPC™ solutions, such as e.g.: Sony.
Adopting RFID / EPC™ solutions – a comprehensive approach
Within Mieloo & Alexander we believe it is essential to apply a comprehensive implementation approach in order to fully leverage the potential of RFID / EPC™ solutions. RFID / EPC™ technology in combination with business process and organisational (re) design will provide companies with an enormous potential to transform industry supply chains. Mieloo & Alexander are fully committed to assist our clients in assessing, designing and deploying RFID / EPC™ solutions in order to further improve supply chain operations.
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