RFID in My Industry (Essay Sample)

RFID in My Industry
Name:
Institution:
Date:
Table of Contents
 TOC \o "1-3" \h \z \u  HYPERLINK \l "_Toc390938272"
Abstract  PAGEREF _Toc390938272 \h
3
 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc390938273"
RFID in My Industry  PAGEREF _Toc390938273 \h
3
 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc390938274"
General description of the business problem  PAGEREF _Toc390938274 \h
4
 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc390938275"
Overview of RFID  PAGEREF _Toc390938275 \h
4
 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc390938276"
Business justification  PAGEREF _Toc390938276 \h
5
 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc390938277"
Benefits and Disadvantages  PAGEREF _Toc390938277 \h
5
 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc390938278"
Benefits  PAGEREF _Toc390938278 \h
5
 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc390938279"
Disadvantages  PAGEREF _Toc390938279 \h
6
 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc390938280"
Planning  PAGEREF _Toc390938280 \h
6
 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc390938281"
Security Concerns  PAGEREF _Toc390938281 \h
7
 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc390938282"
Purchasing  PAGEREF _Toc390938282 \h
7
 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc390938283"
Installing  PAGEREF _Toc390938283 \h
7
 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc390938284"
Impact of Implementation  PAGEREF _Toc390938284 \h
8
 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc390938285"
Description of administrative procedures  PAGEREF _Toc390938285 \h
8
 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc390938286"
Changes in Organization Policies  PAGEREF _Toc390938286 \h
8
 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc390938287"
Training requirements  PAGEREF _Toc390938287 \h
9
 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc390938288"
Maintenance of the system  PAGEREF _Toc390938288 \h
9
 HYPERLINK \l "_Toc390938289"
References  PAGEREF _Toc390938289 \h
10

Abstract
The main problem in pharmaceutical industry is failure to ensure security and safety in pharmaceutical supply chain. The activities of pharmaceutical industry involve distribution of prescription medications worth many billion dollars every year. With increasing demand of pharmaceutical products, many business individuals are attracted into this booming business. Recently, there have been many cases of counterfeit product in the market. Application of RFID technology will also be required in order to authenticate and secure pharmaceutical products from any possible threats other that counterfeiting. RFID technology facilitates automated and remote collection and dissemination of information between RFID tags and the readers through the use of link. This information will be helpful in identifying the sale and distribution of fake pharmaceutical products. This will allow the business owner to take relevant action in order to stop counterfeiting efforts. The advantages of RFID system include the following: efficient, less prone to damage, and has higher return on investment. The disadvantages include the fact that the system is more expensive and creates many security concerns. There is need to consider the problem to that requires solution from RFID technology, before purchasing and installing RFID system. This is also the need to ensure organisational change, training of employees and maintenance of the system.
RFID in My Industry
The main problem in pharmaceutical industry is failure to ensure security and safety in pharmaceutical supply chain. In pharmaceutical industry, safety and security are two significant features that must be present in order to ensure that there is no any problem related to supply chain (Espejo, 2009). In this industry it has been a challenging task ensuring safety and security in pharmaceutical supply chain, as a result of employing appropriated technology that would ensure security and safety in the supply chain.
General Description of the Business Problem
The activities of pharmaceutical industry involve distribution of prescription medications worth many billion dollars every year. The activities of dispensing regulated pharmaceuticals involve a complicated supply chain with many trading associates involved, who do business through numerous transaction levels (Brown, 2007). With increasing demand of pharmaceutical products, many business individuals are attracted into this booming business. With the attempt to make more money in the industries, some businesspersons are involved in illegal activities (Espejo, 2009). Recently, there have been many cases of counterfeit product in the market.
Appropriate technology is required in pharmaceutical industry in order to improve security and safety in pharmaceutical supply chain (Banks, 2007). There is need to protect and substantiate pharmaceutical products so that the issue of counterfeit product in the market can be dealt with fully. Presence of fake products in the pharmaceutical supply chain could greatly affect the status of various respected brands in the pharmaceutical industry. There is need to employ Radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology with the intention of improving security and safety in pharmaceutical supply chain thus discouraging counterfeiting efforts (Brown, 2007). Application of RFID technology will also be required in order to authenticate and secure pharmaceutical products from any possible threats other that counterfeiting.
Overview of RFID
RFID technology facilitates automated and remote collection and dissemination of data between RFID tags and the readers through the use of link. RFID involve a wireless non contact application of radio frequency in transmitting data, with the intention of automatically isolating and tracking tags fixed to objects (Banks, 2007). The tag in RFID always has information stored in them electronically. While working, RFID employ an electronic chip, generally employed to a substrate to create a tag that is fastened to a product, pallet, case or other parcel (Espejo, 2009). By so doing, the chip is able to collect the required information and store that information in electronic form. The information contained in the chip may be accessed, interpreted, recorded, or rewritten (Banks, 2007). There are various factors that affect the performance of RFID. These factors include the size of the tag’s transmitter, working frequency, substance composition of the object carrying the tag, power productivity of the reader, and whether the tag is passive or active.
Figure 1: RFID System


Source: (Banks, 2007)
Business Justification
With it capacity in collecting and storing useful information, RFID technology is the most appropriate tool in dealing tracking and disseminating information concerning various pharmaceutical products (Brown, 2007). This information will be helpful in identifying the sale and distribution of fake pharmaceutical products. This will allow the business owner to take relevant action in order to stop counterfeiting efforts.
Benefits and Disadvantages
RFID technology has benefits and disadvantages. While planning to employ this technology, it is required that one assesses these various benefits and disadvantages associated with RFID technology.
Benefits
RFID is efficient to use. The tags found in RFID do not necessitate line-of-sight to be translated. These tags can be read by the use of cardboard, wood, plastic or even the person’s body. Through the use of tags, it is easy for RFID to track objects that are in a state of motion, collect and transmit necessary information to the reader (Ustundag, 2013). This helps in eradicating human errors, minimize labour and offer rapid access to loads of information.
The tags used in RFID technology are less prone to damage. When being attached on an object, these tags are attached safely and securely thus making it possible to collect and store information even in harsh climatic condition, without getting damaged (Brown, 2007).
Considering the return on investment (ROI), RFID technology offers the best return on investment (Ustundag, 2013). Although the cost of installing RFID is more, compared to a barcode system, RFID has a higher return on investment since RFID is considerably more efficient.
Disadvantages
The RFID system is more expensive. Compared to other alternatives, for example barcode system, its mode of operation makes it more expensive (Ustundag, 2013). This is because, although the passive tag mode of reading resembles (and normally less costly compared to) barcode reading, the reality is that active tags are expensive because of their complexity (Brown, 2007). Active tags are made of radio transceiver, an antenna and microchip, raising the general price of an RFID system.
Another key disadvantage of RFID system is that it creates many security concerns (Ustundag, 2013). Given that the system is not restricted to line-of-sight, exterior (and wicked) powerful directional transmitter could be employed in accessing sensitive tags. Scam is always a prospect when this technology is employed in high-security procedure, for example payment authentication.
Planning
Planning is important before someone engage in any serious activity. Since RFID system is useful in pharmaceutical industry, there is need to plan how it should be used, in order to ensure efficiency of its operation (Espejo, 2009). In order to assess the applicability of the system in eliminating counterfeit product in pharmaceutical supply chain, there is need to study the benefits and disadvantages of RFID system so that proper plan can be created. In the plan, there is need to ensure that all the benefits in RFID system are fully exploited and also ensure that there are strategies of dealing with disadvantages associated with the system.
Security Concerns
Since it is possible for RFID tags to be fixed to clothing, cash, everyday belongings, or even implanted within individuals, the likelihood of reading personally-related information without permission is concern since some people can take advantage of this technology and encroach into other people’s ...