RFID in Manufacturing: The race to radio-tag is heating up in manufacturing

This publication has been discontinued on July 19, 2011.

Introduction

Introduction

RFID is a technology with huge potential in manufacturing. With multiple applications leading to recognizable business benefits, the global market for RFID in manufacturing is slowly picking up. Looking at how RFID can be applied to manufacturing and the market dynamics ensures that vendors will be able to bolster their offerings into this key vertical.

Scope of this report

• The report looks at the technology behind RFID from a high level and details some of the characteristics behind both hardware and software.
• The report also investigates the strategy and coverage of 8 different RFID vendors including IBM, SAP and Sun.
• The report discusses how RFID technology can be applied and implemented to various manufacturing processes within a factory and highlights key issues.
• This report forecasts the RFID market from 2004 to 2010. The forecast includes vertical and geographical data as well as RFID technology.

Research and analysis highlights

Datamonitor expects RFID uptake to be gradual. The impact of exogenous factors such as mandates on manufacturers will continue to drive the greater RFID market to a point where not complying with mandates becomes less expensive than compliance.

A part of RFID applications depend on the activity of business partners in the supply chain. Co-operation between trading partners requires integration of IT systems. Data integration vendors who are experienced with integrating POS data with IT systems are well placed to capitalize on an area of RFID that is not big now, but will be in future.

It is Datamonitors view that RFID needs to be employed to complement already implemented MES software. MES, traditionally, has always had a considerable price tag, and as such, many manufacturers who were early adopters of that technology, will be reluctant to discard such a major investment.

Key reasons to read this report

• The report looks at what RFID technology is, what is driving it and how it can be applied.
• Discover how vendors should educate the market to convince manufacturers to take RFID solutions on board.
• Get to know Datamonitors estimates for the global market for RFID software, hardware and services.

Table of Contents

CHAPTER 1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

• Introduction
• Key findings
  • RFID technology
  • Applications of RFID in manufacturing
  • RFID considerations
  • Implementation options
• Competitor dynamics
• The future decoded
  • Introduction
  • The RFID market, 2004-2010
  • Key findings

CHAPTER 2 INTRODUCTION

• What is this report about?
• Who is the target reader?
• How to use this report

CHAPTER 3 RFID TECHNOLOGY

• Introduction
• Key findings
• A brief introduction to RFID
  • RFID can be used in batch, process and discrete manufacturing
  • The report primarily addresses RFID software
• RFID is being driven by mandates and a desire for more efficient supply chains
  • There are multiple mandates driving RFID uptake in manufacturing
  • Manufacturers are using RFID to make their supply chains more efficient
• RFID hardware is comprised of multiple components
  • There are various types of RFID tags, each suited to different applications
  • Readers & antennas are responsible for scanning tags
• RFID software is mainly made up of middleware, but edgeware is starting to grow popular
  • RFID middleware deals with the data coming from the tags
  • RFID edgeware deals with RFID data before it is sent to middleware
• The EPC Global Network provides an indexing service for multiple parties in the supply chain
• Conclusion
  • A magic price point of $0.05 is unrealistic - each business will make its own decision
  • Commoditization of RFID tags will not occur any time soon
  • Readers look to be an important developing technology

CHAPTER 4 MANUFACTURING APPLICATIONS OF RFID

• Introduction
• Key findings
• Breaking down manufacturing helps for easier analysis
• Production line applications provide significant benefits
  • Production line tracking allows for greater visibility into work in progress (WIP)
  • Production flow analysis helps reduce bottlenecks
  • Production & yard organisation reduces time spent locating products
  • Sensor-based RFID alerts monitoring systems to changes in critical conditions
• Labor applications help increase efficiency by reducing human error
• Asset management is a key area for RFID in manufacturing
  • Tracking and managing assets can help reduce production downtime and enhance maintenance
• Inbound inventory and materials can be tracked using RFID
• Ordering & distribution can be enhanced using RFID
  • RFID helps keep track of distribution assets through close monitoring
  • RFID tags help picking and packing processes become more accurate
• RFID data from upstream and downstream partners can be used for better production forecasting
• Conclusion
  • Business partner participation can affect the benefits received by an RFID-enabled manufacturer
  • Effective communication between RFID hardware and enterprise applications is crucial for manufacturers
  • Different applications of RFID will be adopted at different rates

CHAPTER 5 RFID CONSIDERATIONS

• Introduction
• Key findings
• Other IT strategies might have a higher priority than an RFID implementation
• The risk of excessively complicating business processes might detract from an RFID solution
• RFID needs to live in harmony with existing manufacturing execution systems (MES)
• Data quality could be the downfall of RFID deployments
• RFID data storage is a small issue, but one that should be watched
• RFID will not replace barcodes immediately - instead they will both be used for varied applications
• The security of RFID data and tags is not a huge issue now, but one that could be in the future
• Choosing the right RFID technology takes into account several factors
  • Selecting the right reader for each RFID application is key for complex production processes
  • The orientation of tags and readers could affect crucial read rates
  • Some materials affect the transmission of RF signals, and need different RFID setups
  • The amount of data generated by RFID requires a solid network base
• Conclusions

CHAPTER 6 IMPLEMENTATION OPTIONS

• Introduction
• Key findings
• A phased RFID implementation can spread both the risks and costs of a strategy
  • Phase 1: pallet & case tagging is being used particularly to meet customer mandates
  • Phase 2: asset & labor tagging can provide instant impact for manufacturers
  • Phase 3: unit-level ID tagging is the most in-depth type of RFID deployment and yields the most benefits
• Manufacturers can focus on an internal RFID deployment, an external one incorporating partner integration, or a combination of the two
• Conclusions
• Datamonitor believes that larger manufacturers will implement RFID gradually, while smaller businesses may go straight to phase 3
• Datamonitor expects internal RFID deployments to outnumber external in 2005

CHAPTER 7 VENDOR PROFILES

• Introduction
• Informatica
  • Strength
  • Weakness / challenge
  • Customer focus
  • Closing remarks
• HP
  • Strength
  • Weakness / challenge
  • Customer focus
  • Closing remarks
• Ascential
  • Strength
  • Weakness / challenge
  • Customer focus
  • Closing remarks
• Oracle
  • Strength
  • Weakness / challenge
  • Customer focus
  • Closing remark
• Vizional
  • Strength
  • Weakness / challenge
  • Customer focus
  • Closing remark
• SAP
  • Strength
  • Weakness / challenge
  • Customer focus
  • Closing remarks
• IBM
  • Strength
  • Weakness / challenge
  • Customer focus
  • Closing remark
• SUN
  • Strength
  • Weakness / challenge
  • Customer focus
  • Closing remark
• Conclusions
  • Expertise in retail could help software vendors selling RFID to manufacturers and vice versa
  • Education and demonstration must be key strategies for software vendors

CHAPTER 8 THE FUTURE DECODED

• Introduction
• Key findings
• The RFID market, 2004-2010
• Global RFID market to exceed $6 billion by 2010
• North America to lead - EMEA and APAC to grow quickly
  • Germany and the UK are key EMEA RFID countries
  • China and Japan will lead APAC as it reaches a total $1.26bn by 2010
• Manufacturing will account for 49% or $3bn of RFID investment in 2010
  • Pharmaceutical, CPG and the automotive industry will drive global manufacturing spend on RFID
• Hardware comprises the bulk of RFID revenue with services playing a greater role in the future

CHAPTER 9 APPENDIX

• Future readings
• SPP writing team
• How to contact experts in your industry

List of Tables

• Table 1: RFID applications in batch, process and discrete manufacturing
• Table 2: RFID tag types
• Table 3: RFID vs barcodes
• Table 4: Production line applications
• Table 5: Asset management, inventory management, labor applications
• Table 6: Ordering and distribution, up/downstream data flows
• Table 7: By 2010, North America will have hit $2.6bn while EMEA will only just edge past $2bn
• Table 8: EMEA RFID revenues
• Table 9: APAC RFID revenues
• Table 10: RFID vertical revenues
• Table 11: RFID manufacturing revenues
• Table 12: RFID cost split 2004 - 2010
• Table 13: RFID hardware investment projections

List of Figures

• Figure 1: RFID software vendors from a variety of backgrounds
• Figure 2: North America will be the biggest market for RFID from 2004 to 2010
• Figure 3: An overall view of RFID technology
• Figure 4: The report focuses on just manufacturing in the supply chain
• Figure 5: A typical RFID setup includes readers, antennas and tags
• Figure 6: RFID middleware stack
• Figure 7: The EPCGlobal network relies on EPC Information Services
• Figure 8: RFID affects different areas in manufacturing
• Figure 9: In 03/04, 78% of manufacturers surveyed had decided to wait and see about RFID.
• Figure 10: RFID and MES integration
• Figure 11: RFID data integration will take time
• Figure 12: Value generation: nternal vs external RFID deployment
• Figure 13: RFID software vendors from a variety of backgrounds
• Figure 14: An overview of HP
• Figure 15: An overview of Ascential
• Figure 16: An overview of Oracle
• Figure 17: An overview of Vizional
• Figure 18: An overview of SAP
• Figure 19: An overview of IBM
• Figure 20: An overview of Sun
• Figure 21: North America will be the biggest market for RFID from 2004 to 2010
• Figure 22: UK and Germany are the biggest European RFID countries, with 23% and 28% market share respectively in 2010
• Figure 23: Most RFID revenues in 2004 were generated in Japan, but China is growing faster
• Figure 24: Manufacturing is the largest RFID vertical, with 49% of investment in 2010, dropping from 54% in 2004
• Figure 25: Pharma, CPG and automotive will generate the most global manufacturing RFID revenues from 2004 to 2010
• Figure 26: CPG will grow its market share by 6% between 2004 and 2010 in EMEA
• Figure 27: Pharma will grow strongly in North America, reaching 18% market share for RFID investment by 2010
• Figure 28: High-tech and electronic RFID investment market share will increase by 2% between 2004 and 2010 in APAC
• Figure 29: Hardware is the largest cost for RFID
• Figure 30: Tags and labels will shrink from 48% of total hardware cost in 2004 to 39% in 2010

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