RFID will be treated like any other IT investment

Few, if any, in manufacturing feel they’re being bulldozed into adopting RFID. Directors and managers have highly functional views and expectations of any IT, and that includes RFID. Those are chief among findings of an initial study by Benchmark Research for Microsoft. The firm conducted interviews with directors and senior business managers in automotive, food and beverage, telecoms, construction and general manufacturing, and found all requiring cost justification like any other investment. Worryingly, however, most respondents were ignorant of anything like the detail, not just of RFID as a technology but in terms of what it might enable in their businesses, and in which departments – although most talked of supply chain applications. Average respondents were best characterised as being vaguely aware of what RFID is, having read a few articles in the press, believing it’s a more reliable and sophisticated form of barcoding. Paul Watts, Benchmark research manager, says: “One director said the definition we gave him contained practical details that made the technology clearer than anything he’d read anywhere.” Manufacturing industry says it wants detail in terms that enable it to assess the potential value of RFID, areas of application, relevance and impact. Then and only then can it be placed sensibly on the agenda and priority list.