A Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) evaluation strategy for customer fulfillment centers

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is a wireless technology that can be used to track inventory labeled with microchip-embedded identifiers communicating passively with scanners without operator involvement. This non-line-of-sight technology has the potential of dramatically increasing the level of visibility throughout the supply chain for many types of products, assisting in defect reduction, increased granularity in inventory tracking, and decreased direct labor. In recent years, developments in RFID technology have decreased the cost of RFID equipment, and several large U.S. retailers have started to use RFID to track consumer products. However, what is not clear is whether or not these RFID implementations have yielded economic returns. Although RFID promises higher read rates and increased accuracy, how the technology works in particular warehouse settings is not clear. The first step to determining the feasibility of RFID in any organization is the complete evaluation of RFID technology. This document discusses an evaluation strategy using the Six Sigma DMADV framework. The strategy was carried out at internet retailer Amazon.com.

Department dc:contributor.department

Leaders for Manufacturing Program at MIT

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2006

Author dc:creator

• Shen, Howard H. (Howard Hao)

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Stephen C. Graves and David Simchi-Levi.

• Sloan School of Management.
• Engineering Systems Division.
• Leaders for Manufacturing Program.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/37247

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/37247