leveraging the power of rfid in supply chain management through sap auto id infrastructure

7/29/2019 Leveraging the Power of RFID in Supply Chain Management Through SAP Auto ID Infrastructure

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© 2010 SAP AG 1

Leveraging the Power of RFID inSCM through SAP Auto IDInfrastructure

Applies to:

SAP Auto ID Infrastructure 2.1 & Higher. For more information, visit the Supply Chain Managementhomepage.

Summary

RFID technology will revolutionize the business processes across the supply chain in coming days .It willmake the supply networks much more efficient, smarter, flexible & responsive to changes. Real time data willhelp business to make better decisions. SAP Auto ID infrastructure facilitates to realize RFID enabled Supplychain.

Author: Kaushik Choudhury

Company: Tata Consultancy Services

Created on: 2 January 2010

Author Bio

Kaushik Choudhury of Tata Consultancy services has 5 years experience in SAPPP & QM area, predominately consulting in fast moving consumer goods sector.

https://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/sdn/bpx-scm








Leveraging the Power of RFID in SCM through SAP Auto ID Infrastructure


© 2010 SAP AG 2

Table of Contents

Prologue.............................................................................................................................................................. 3 Fundamental of RFID technology ................................................................................................................... 3 Salient Benefits in RFID Enabled Supply chain .............................................................................................. 3 Pioneer Corporate Organizations Implemented RFID Technology ................................................................ 4 RFID Implementation Challenges ................................................................................................................... 4

SAP Auto-ID Solution ......................................................................................................................................... 5 Evaluation of SAP Auto ID Infrastructure ........................................................................................................ 6 Business Processes Supported by SAP Auto-ID Infrastructure ..................................................................... 6

Related Content .................................................................................................................................................. 7 Disclaimer and Liability Notice ............................................................................................................................ 8





© 2010 SAP AG 3

Prologue

Radio-frequency identification (RFID) is not merely an enabler to locate product but it’s a technology whichprovides visibility into end to end supply chain and help business innovation. It radically streamlines thelogistics processes and facilitates in getting the product from mfg plant to point of sale efficiently.

Organizations have experienced infinite benefits directly or indirectly in there supply chain by implementingRFID.

Fundamental of RFID technology

Simple RFID system consist of three components

RF Tags / Transponder - Specific object information is stored in the memory of tags and is accessedvia the radio signal of RFID readers

RF Reader - convert radio waves from RFID tags into a form that can be passed to middlewaresoftware.

Middleware & Enterprise Application - It is used to store the data for future reference & analysis.

Salient Benefits in RFID Enabled Supply chain

Processes are more streamlined & lesser manual intervention avoids human error.

Physical movement of goods can be tracked in more granular level from shop floor to top floor.

Improved stock traceability & inventory management

Superior customer service & faster replenishments.

Reduction in theft across retail stores & supply chain.

Security & control of authorization of personnel in sensitive zone.

Enhanced end user experience & cost saving with self service kiosks





© 2010 SAP AG 4

Most of you must be thinking that we can accomplish more or less similar results with barcodes. But then

RFID got definitive upper hand over barcode technology

Barcode RFID

Optical technology demanding un-obstructive line of sight

Radio frequency technology doesn'trequire line of sight

Human intervention to scan bar code Un-attended reading

Not reusable RF transponders can be reused

Shorter read range approx ~ 1.5 meter Longer read range .Battery-powered tagstypically have a read range of 300 feet(100 meters)

Read only alternative Read & write capability

Lesser data storage ability. Approx ~249characters in 1-D bar codes

More data storage space Up to 64Kbyte High-Capacity FRAM RFID Tag

Readability gets impaired with time due todirt, abrasion etc

RF transponders performance is notaffected by harsh industrial environment.

Pioneer Corporate Organizations Implemented RFID Technology

Wal-Mart required its top 100 suppliers to apply RFID labels to all shipments. To meet thisrequirement, vendors use RFID printer/encoders to label cases and pallets that require tags for Wal-Mart.

Integrating RFID with its new assembly line, Club Car restructured the way it produces its cars,introducing just-in-time materials delivery and improving the ability to customize vehicles on the fly.RFID technology has been one of the factors in cutting the time it takes to build each vehicle —from88 minutes to about 46 minutes—and ensuring that each car is built to an exact specification—andsaved millions of dollars.

Paramount found the means to better efficiency and productivity in a small but powerful radio-frequency identification (RFID) system. After installing the new automation system, Paramount’sreceiving department got so efficient at equipment logistics that it reduced leased trailer usage by 30

percent.

RFID Implementation Challenges

Cost & complexity of implementing RFID infrastructure`. It involves not just initial cost, but also thelearning curve and labor costs, as well as the software costs.

RF tags are costlier than barcode labels

RF standards are still evolving. Different countries have allotted different parts of the radio spectrumfor RFID.

Privacy of the data collected through RF.





© 2010 SAP AG 5

SAP Auto-ID Solution

SAP solutions for auto-ID & item serialization enable the use of RFID to automate business processes andprovide accurate real time information about items as they move through the supply chain

SAP offers following solution

SAP Auto-ID Infrastructure - It integrates RF technology with SAP systems & enables automationof RFID enabled business transactions

SAP Auto-ID Enterprise – Multiple SAP Auto-ID infrastructures coupled with SAP Object EventRepository (OER) to collect data across system to query manage & monitor process centrally.

SAP Event Management - It enables to track & query events across supply chain & facilitatingbetter visibility to granular detail in business processes.

SAP AII is a 4 tier infrastructure viz. device layer, device operation layer (DOL) , Business Process Bridginglayer & Enterprise Application layer. SAP Exchange Infrastructure (XI) is inserted between SAP & backendERP systems.





© 2010 SAP AG 6

Evaluation of SAP Auto ID Infrastructure

SAP AII supports for GTIN, EPC number range and EPC-tag generation.

SAP AII supports common standards such as XML, PML, HTTP, HTTPS, SMTP, IDoc (an SAPspecific XML-sub format), J2EE (via Web AS’ Java Stack) and .NET through the SAP Web Application Server and Net Weaver

SAP AII comes with a tool for simulating RFID traffic called Traffic Generator. These tools couldsimulate traffic generated from (multiple) readers to the infrastructure as well as from backend

systems to the infrastructure and allows heavy-stress tests of systems There are multiple options to integrate SAP AII to the existing software environment for instance

using Net Weaver-platform, Exchange Infrastructure (XI), parsing the XML-streams provided by theIntegration Services etc.

It is highly customizable to meet the business requirement through the web-based Auto-ID Cockpit

Business Processes Supported by SAP Auto-ID Infrastructure

SAP Auto-ID Infrastructure (SAP AII) supports the following processes:

Outbound Processing (Slap and Ship)

Flexible Delivery process

Generation of Pedigree Notifications

Returnable Transport Items Processing

The process ses are supported using mobile and fixed RFID devices and desktop user interfaces.





© 2010 SAP AG 7

Related Content

http://www.fujitsu.com/global/news/pr/archives/month/2008/20080109-01.html

http://www.sap.com/community/int/ShowDoc.epx?file_end=_high&docid=23552

http://www.aimglobal.org/technologies/rfid/rfid_faqs.asp

http://www.rfidjournal.com

http://www.help.sap.com SAP and Intel Web cast -- Leveraging the Power of RFID Through "Sense and Respond"

Master guide SAP solutions for auto-ID & item serialization

Evaluating RFID Infrastructure - Sebastian Frischbier, Kai Sachs, Alejandro Buchmann

Databases and Distributed Systems Group







http://www.rfidjournal.com/


http://www.help.sap.com/











© 2010 SAP AG 8

Disclaimer and Liability Notice

This document may discuss sample coding or other information that does not include SAP official interfaces and therefore is notsupported by SAP. Changes made based on this information are not supported and can be overwritten during an upgrade.

SAP will not be held liable for any damages caused by using or misusing the information, code or methods suggested in this document,and anyone using these methods does so at his/her own risk.

SAP offers no guarantees and assumes no responsibility or liability of any type with respect to the content of this technical article or code sample, including any liability resulting from incompatibility between the content within this document and the materials andservices offered by SAP. You agree that you will not hold, or seek to hold, SAP responsible or liable with respect to the content of thisdocument.

leveraging the power of rfid in supply chain management through sap auto id infrastructure

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