RFID fitting and business profile: How RFID technology adheres to unique business processes

On my professional experience I have learned that every business and enterprise process shares several commonalities when compared to others. Operational efficiencies, supply chain, logistics, manufacturing, IT infrastructure, human resources, etc. There are several operational aspects on each business that are common across each industry and accepted as disciplines that are well established and managed as typical business processes. Yet each business has its own unique way to execute and depending on its size and market focus there are aspects that may only apply to the particular business.

On my opinion, this can be considered a business signature or business profile that is also noticed and experienced by the consumer that uses the end product or service. In a competitive business landscape most enterprises constantly work towards differentiating and adding value to its end users. In retail, for example, stock replenishment, material movement, forecast, distribution, and advertisement are critical besides the product market mix. Retail stores, to be competitive, must have the product in its shelves and product forecast depends on dynamic demand that puts pressure to the business supply chain.

What if there was a technology (or set of technologies) that enabled a differentiator and added competitive advantage increasing margins and diminishing operational deficiencies? Most likely the business would keep them as trade secrets for competitive advantage. RFID is one of those technologies and RFID suppliers and manufactures tout the benefits of RFID. Yet, RFID technologies still not widely adopted when compared to bar-code technology for example. On my opinion, one reason is that RFID must follow each unique business profile. This implies that RFID is a technology the must fit the existing business process and not the other way around. Therefore each RFID solution may be somewhat different from other similar business process elsewhere. In an age where most of us experience products and services that follow one size fits all or where a repeatable business model is desirable, RFID stands out as made to fit the business process. RFID is a wireless technology that is prone to interference, materials, polarization, RF power and frequency constraints. Therefore for a business to  successfully deploy RFID needs to understand that RFID is all about the business and their application.

The best advise I provide to my customers when they ask me about RFID is why they believe they have the need for it. This conversation is key for operation managers, supply chain and logistics to understand so that the business buys internally the rightful need for such a system. In turn must business manager appreciate the advise and more often than not act on the suggestion. I believe business can greatly learn and discriminate form vendors that are product focus form customer/solution centric focus. This is a shift on business philosophy that will enable the wide adoption of RFID in the industry since this approach has a higher rate of success when compared to product centric vendors or solutions providers. In conclusion, RFID is a technology that is made to fit and businesses that see a need for RFID can increase their rate of success by adopting solutions form costumer and solution centric providers to bring value, uniqueness in their business profile and differentiation for their market.

Asset management using RFID technologies

Most facilities and procurement managers have some computerized system in place for inventory control. Typically this is a tedious process where a bar code with a unique ID is attached to the asset that identifies it within the system. The types of assets can be from metal frames to large machines on a manufacturing floor. Regardless of the cost or the type of asset each entity in the system has to be tracked or accounted for inventory control purposes. As it is expected, annual audits are done manually. Typically, is only then that managers recognize the issues and the time consuming task of manual scanning and even manual recording for the assets within their facilities. RFID is a suitable tool that has the potential to reduce the time and therefore the costs associated with auditing, tracking and locating the assets. There are three reasons RFID technology is the best tool when compared to bar code and manual recording:

1. RFID can read several objects simultaneously at one time with 100% accuracy, therefore time savings can be realized.
2. RFID tags readability do not degrade with time, unlike bar code labels. Therefore, costs of reprinting and re-tagging the assets are eliminated.
3. RFID can enable smart systems and automate processes for asset movement and management at a fractional costs of bar code and manual scanning. Therefore, RFID enables scalability for the business enterprise more efficiently.

The benefits mentioned above make RFID a powerful tool. The main aspect is to design the application within the context of the physics of RFID. To realize the benefits of RFID a through and through analysis of the types of assets and the process of identifying them needs to be evaluated carefully to fulfill customer expectations and attain business objectives. Below, I give some pointers for starters:

1. Decide what type of RFID technology suits the application. As I wrote earlier, there is active RFID, passive RFID, battery-assisted passive (BAP), Wi-Fi Tags, etc. There are several differences for each of these RFID technologies besides price per tag (incremental costs for identifying the asset) and infrastructure costs for data collection purposes. The main aspect that defines what type of RFID technology to select is a combination of the type of asset, environmental constraints, and read range requirements for the application. For instance if the application requires a simple license plate ID read, then passive may be the best choice. If large expensive assets need to be tracked, such as containers, large machinery, or a data rich tag is needed beyond just an ID, then active or BAP tag maybe a better choice.
2. Define the form factor for the RFID tags to fit the assets. Some RFID technologies may be more sensitive to tag placement, orientation and distance with respect to the antenna of the reader, the material of the assets themselves can be an issue, operating environment, proximity to sources of RF noise or metals. All these aspects will define the success and the usability of RFID. A good practice is to have an RF engineer visit the facility to perform a site survey. The site survey should spell the type of infrastructure needed and the expected performance for identifying the different types of assets.
3. Software integration and business logic must be scoped. This piece of the RFID solution will define the type of alerts and type of RFID and related hardware required at each RFID read point. Perhaps this is the most costly part of the application. Typically, on my experience, the RFID middleware vendor in charge of the integration of the RFID network infrastructure can mitigate changes needed at the software enterprise level. However, I would suggest that the main software system that manages the WMS is modified such that the RFID system can be scaled rather than middleware dependent.

I could go on for several more points; however, the points above are a good starting point to evaluate the viability of RFID. Moving forward, to make a decision to implement RFID beyond this point, requires a well defined ROI to quantify the benefits of RFID versus opportunity cost in the form of more traditional technologies such as bar code or even adding more manual labor.

In Summary, RFID is an excellent tool and the varieties of RFID technologies available make it suitable for inventory control, asset management to automate audits and reduce costs of inventory count and procurement costs for the business enterprise.

A Business Approach To RFID

I could argue that most of the time when a new sales person enters into the RFID world, he/she encounters a world that is very different from other sales disciplines. So, what is the difference? after all, sales for most fields has a methodology well defined which includes a value proposition, ROI tools, relationship building, pricing strategy, market mix, etc. However, sales on RFID on my opinion, has several dimensions that separates it from other disciplines. The aspect that separates sales on RFID from other disciplines is the wireless dimension and the physical science behind every RFID application. Given these added dimensions, to have success on sales for RFID technology it is necessary to have the right approach. Below, I share some of my experience and give some pointers that perhaps are good practice for salespeople in RFID technology.

1. Understand the process flow: Most customers explore RFID technology because they have heard of the potential benefits or they have a problem that truly fits the RFID application. A good practice is to layout all the operational flow of the customer prior to looking at the RFID solution. Some examples are:
1. Work flow directly related to the process every customer is unique and it is important to have excellent understanding prior to propose any improvements to the current process
2. Asset flow and characteristics: Most RFID applications will involve the tracking and identification of assets. Having an understanding of the type of assets is half the battle
3. Environment, time, and space: RFID is a wireless technology prone to interference from other devices in the vicinity, metals, and liquids. The sales person has to understand how RFID will perform in this environment. Failure to consider this aspect can be catastrophic if the right customer expectations are not met
2. Understand the cost benefit and ROI analysis: Unlike purely hardware sales or software sales, RFID usually a mix (unless the customer is the one deploying the system). There are three key pieces to the ROI:
1. RFID tag form factor and asset tagging: The successful salesman is an expert on the type of tag and the asset to be tagged. While it is true that RFID is somehow more mature now than when the Wal-Mart mandates were first introduced, the type tag chosen is directly proportional to the read rate and read range performance. Lack of an understanding of this aspect will result on unacceptable read rates and high costs on portal or read point troubleshooting. On my experience I have seen a lot of time an effort lost trying to tune a portal to find out that the wrong type of tag was chosen for the asset from the beginning
2. Reader Infrastructure and reader network: the experienced sales person will have a estimated number of readers that will be needed in the customer facility based on the expected points of visibility within the process, the salesperson should lay on the proposal that the larger the number of RFID readers, the lower the cost of tags since the benefits of the tag visible in the facility’s reader network will surpass the cost of the incremental tags.
3. Middleware and software integration costs: Sales person has to understand how the data will flow from the RFID readers to the customer dashboard. The implications for this part of the proposal are key with budgetary costs for software. Some customers will reluctant invest on a new software system because of RFID. Therefore, the middleware piece has to be analyzed to make sure that the business rules and the existing software is accounted. This opens the door to new business therefore RFID integrators should be aware of the type ERP or WMS the customer uses.
4. Installation and professional services costs: the salesperson should be an expert on the RFID reader hardware and mounts and the amount of time it will take to make and install. Failure to have an understanding on the field install could critically diminish profit because of ill estimated costs for professional services.
3. Understanding the customer business: it is critical since RFID can be a significant investment for any company or enterprise. The salesperson approach to business in RFID has to go beyond the sale and has to be perceived as a partner. RFID is a technology that requires a long term commitment and along the way, because the way RFID technology works, the customer will have to make compromises in its processes and the way it interacts with its people and customers. The better the salesperson understand the customer the better the chances for recurring sales and service.

In summary these are some of the aspects that I consider a sales account manager should have experience on to be successful in RFID sales. While some will recognize that some of these traits are shared among other sales disciplines, I would emphasize that the RFID sales person ought to be an expert (unlike other sales disciplines) on the areas mentioned above and well versed in wireless technologies and the supply chain in order to be successful and help his/her customers.