Mainstream adoption of radio frequency identification (RFID) technology is going to happen, so organisations best be informed and prepared so they are not left behind.
This is one of the common themes to emerge from the second annual Terrapinn RFID World Africa conference that took place in Sandton last week.
Presentations by a wide range of developers and users of RFID demonstrated the while the technology is emerging from the shadows, organisations should still proceed with caution by establishing a clear business case before implementing the specific RFID technology that is guaranteed to deliver returns in specific environments.
While representatives of the local automotive and mining industries demonstrated attractive returns on investment derived from being able to make business decisions based on accurate real-time information, others agreed on the importance of thorough planning and testing before implementation.
The importance of running pilot programmes to ensure the selection of the right RFID technology was emphasised by Kevin O`Neil, head of RFID applications at Saco Systems.
Successful implementations of RFID technology required the involvement of all role-players including solution providers, business process specialists, warehousing and distribution representatives, and IT, O`Neil added.
While IT should be involved because of the need for good network support for RFID solutions, RFID should not become the responsibility of IT, but rather application engineers and other business process specialists, agreed conference chairman Charles Rice of Amazon.com in the US.
Other speakers emphasised the importance of adopting and contributing to international standards, which are essential for achieving cross-border supply chain visibility. Others shared benefits like those enabled by barcode standardisation.
After two days of discussion and debate, it was clear that as the technology matures, the success of RFID in SA and elsewhere in the world depends on investigation, experimentation, standardisation and collaboration.
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