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Investment banking firm Robert W. Baird & Co. has released its Supply Chain Technology RFID Monthly for May report. Excerpts from key developments during the month are listed. You can download the entire report, along with links to past editions, from links at the end of the highlights.
Key Updates
Survey Suggests Opportunities: A survey suggests traditional data capture market is seeing RFID opportunity. We recently surveyed 92 automated data capture resellers in North America regarding industry trends and found some good activity in the RFID space. Roughly 33% of these resellers suggest RFID is becoming either "somewhat important" or "important" to their business. Further, resellers indicated that passive/BAP technology is the No. 1 technology category they expect to offer in the next 24 months; active came in at No. 2.
Increased Federal Focus on Pharma Pedigree: U.S. House Representatives Stephen Buyer (R-IN) and Jim Matheson (D-UT) introduced H.R. 5839, "Safeguarding America's Pharmaceuticals Act" on April 17. The bill seeks to require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish regulations to promote standardized national drug identification and tracking system by amending section 503 of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act. The legislation also calls for a report on technological evaluation in addition to standards development faster than required in the Food and Drug Administration Amendments Act of 2007. The act would also supersede individual state pedigree laws.
Increased Aerospace Activity: Airbus recently offered some incremental insight into its RFID uses. The Aerospace giant that began a pilot project in 2006 discussed the success of past pilots, including providing some supporting metrics, and indicated that some rollouts have begun. The company is also beginning pilots with more complex operations and expects to begin expanding RFID throughout 2008. Airbus indicated that RFID, while just a tool, will be a key enabler in achieving some significant operational improvements.
RFID Challenges: Given the early stages of RFID, many challenges to adoption remain. Given comments from industry players, we see three that have particular focus: 1) ability to share data across a common platform among trading partners as data sharing will be the key value driver, including restricting proprietary data; 2) Privacy and regulation, which as we discussed in previous editions can significantly dampen prospects if not properly addressed; 3) International standardization given the increasingly complex global supply chain.
Related Links:
The complete report for May.
The complete report for April.
March Summary.
February Summary.
January Summary.
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