21 - Radio frequency identification (RFID) as a catalyst for improvements in food supply chain operations

Abstract

The objective of effective supply chain management is the coordination of information, materials and financial flows between organisations. The recent trends of globalisation, consumer pressure for responsiveness and reliability, and intense competition in the global trading community have made effective supply chain management a very challenging issue. New information technologies are promising for optimising supply chain operations and solving many related issues. Indeed, supply chain management information systems have greatly benefited companies that use them, minimising information processing costs and raising great potentials like information sharing and fast communication that were not feasible before. RFID is an emerging technology that can further contribute to supply chain optimisation. RFID enables accurate real time product location information provision in high volumes and at very low (or even zero) labour costs. This chapter looks closely into the technology of RFID and the way it is employed in supply chain management and, particularly, in the food supply chain by describing two applications. The first describes the requirements’ analysis, development and pilot implementation of a RFID-enabled traceability system for a company that deals with frozen food. The second describes a distributed, service-oriented architecture that supports RFID-integrated decision support and collaboration practices in a networked business environment. In the context of retail industry, a RFID-integrated ‘dynamic pricing’ service is described regarding its functionality and implementation. Several considerations from the cases are presented which could provide valuable feedback to other organisations interested in moving to a RFID-based scheme.