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As RFID moves on, Indian enterprises are waking up to the technology and its business benefits. From awareness to live pilots, the Indian market has undergone a marked shift over the last year. According to the DQ-IDC Megaspenders survey, 2005, around 12% of the sampled large enterprises are already using some form of RFID; manufacturing taking the lead with seven companies in this vertical deploying RFID.

The Early Adopters
While there are no precise numbers available on RFID implementations in India, indications are that they've reached a sizeable chunk.

Gemini Communication, an RFID solution provider, has completed over 60 implementations in India in the last two years.

Verticals adopting the technology,  include pharmaceutical, automotive, healthcare, transport and logistics, defense, and food (traceability). The Indian retail industry has also embraced RFID. Pilots are already underway, and with continued fall in tag prices, the technology will have more widespread adoption within the sector. According to Bimal Sareen, founder and CEO of Avaana, an RFID-based technology, innovation, and integration services company, its increased recognition and importance in the government sector will become an important area to explore for countries worldwide,  and India as well.

Among the early adopters in India are Ashok Leyland, Abhishek Industries, Mahindra, Honda Siel, Arvind Mills, Ranbaxy and Pantaloon. Arvind Mills apparel store at Wipro's Electronic City campus sells RFID tagged products. Pantaloon has successfully implemented RFID solution at its Tarapur warehouse and factory. Ashok Leyland has already started pilot projects and is preparing to deploy RFID within its assembling centers.

Abhishek Industries
At their Terry Towel Plant, Abhishek Industries, Ludhiana, have used the RFID pilot project to automate semi-finished goods tracking in greige folding. The application is based on Avaana's RFID solution.

With three antennas placed on the greige stock area and active tags on individual doffs (rolls of the towel material), the system is able to report to the floor manager on stock levels, where the physical stocks are, whether there any non-moving stocks, and send alarm signals when an unauthorized Doff is moved. RFID has been integrated with the existing ERP system (SAP R/3) and it has been ensured that the new technology works consistently and reliably.

Theoretically, the technology allows a user to go to a PC with a browser and take a virtual look at the entire greige stock area. The two key requirements being met through the solution are determining which doss is lying where, enabling greater visibility and traceability and
ensuring the 'first in, first out' usage of doss.

According to Abhishek's president IT, Ravi Tandon, this pilot project is being used to test tags and readers: “We plan to extend the trial by tagging more areas like finished goods warehouse, Cotton Warehouse etc. The RFID system will be a permanent feature and needs to be constantly upgraded.”

Honda Siel
Carmaker Honda Siel is making innovative use of RFID to bring about efficiencies in its vehicle quality testing system. After final assembly the vehicle goes for a quality test. The various quality parameters are defined, and it's tested against each of these. The company uses RFID chips, which are put inside the car after the final assembly before going for the test drive.  These chip have the programs of the different quality parameters for the various models of cars. The chips constantly interact with the RFID antennas in Honda Siel's wireless network, thereby tracking the actual performance of the car against the parameters on a real-time basis. Once the car is back the chip is taken out and put into the server, which contains the RFID reader. The server then generates a standard report based on the actual reading and recognizes the levels at which the issues lie, then sends out the report to the respective shops for taking appropriate counter measures.

According to head IT, Honda Siel, Hilal Isar Khan, the company is now looking at leveraging the technology to enable real-time inventory management. RFID tags can be put on parts which are used inside cars. The application is targeted to help in efficiently managing inventory quantity levels in terms of the quantity required, spare quantity of inventory, etc. It can further help in inventory valuation, better managing inventory obsolescence, and work in progress inventory. Using RFID the company can also do more efficient allocation of material for the various shops.

Making RFID Work Learnings from those who have been there, done that
	Bimal Sareen Founder & CEO, Avaana Value is multiplied when you link your supply chains (using RFID) with your suppliers. Go as deep in the supply chain as possible. Leverage RFID to conduct process changes that have been pending for your enterprise. Use this as the catalyst. It's not just cost, it also adds value. Take specific issues across your value-chain and focus on determining if RFID can enable change and increased efficiencies. If yes, then move forward on a pilot and implementation.
	Daya Prakash Manager, IT Systems, LG India Strong buy-in from management as well as trade partners. Seamless integration with applications such as ERP, SCP & CRM in the absence of global standards for EPC. A mitigation plan for security and privacy concerns Organizational preparedness for process re-engineering.
	Pradhyumna T Venkat Head-RFID Solutions, Gemini Communications Selection of the right tag and its form factor is very critical. Positioning of antennas and the reader density needs to be considered in any deployment Data management and control is vital through the presence of a relevant edge server/middleware.
	Ravi Mathur CEO, GS1 India Before developing an RFID strategy, it's critical that companies understand the challenges of deploying RFID and begin with conducting pilot projects. Waiting until RFID stabilizes or until customers require RFID as a condition of doing business could force companies to rush into less than optimal solutions that cost more and provide greater business disruption. Waiting could also allow competitors to gain competitive advantage by being better positioned to meet RFID mandates. Costs and complexities related to RFID will be reduced over time, and experiential learning related to RFID projects will make today's hopes for RFID a reality. As with anything new each business must choose how and when to adopt RFID. Waiting for RFID to become 100 percent proven, understood, and standardized may seem to be a safe decision on the surface, but it would also be a losing strategy. Instead, it's time to move forward with RFID-using clear business goals as a compass. RFID is not simply a matter of mandate-compliance, instead, RFID mandate-compliance can be leveraged for internal operating efficiency and for competitive advantage.
	Padmaja Krishnan Director, Marketing,  Planning and Research, CSC India The need for integration of RFID technology with existing business applications and enterprise solutions seamlessly plays a critical role in its successful implementation. Deployment of such systems should be carefully estimated along with a fine balancing of multiple database access and increasing transaction loads.

Mahindra & Mahindra
While implementing Integrated Production Management System in Mahindra & Mahindra, there was a need to track bodyshell through PTED (Pretreatment & Electro-Deposition) process which involves high temperature and chemical reactions. The automotive major is using the RFID technology here. The skids that carry the bodyshells in the PTED area are fitted with RFID tags which contain the relevant information relating to bodyshells like the body serial number, color code, model number, etc. By using this information the company is able to track where exactly the bodyshell is lying. This also helps the paint shop person plan his schedule on the basis of this information.

According to Jagdish Lomte, DGM, Business Solutions, Corporate IT at Mahindra & Mahindra, the input from RFID can be used to link it with the PLC system for further automation. The system is also integrated with SAP ERP, as a result the PTED production report can be tracked in the ERP.

Applications in selection of color-code for auto-painting, entire aggregate tracking through vehicle assembly, supply chain management, transportation logistics will be the next round of RFID initiatives in the future.

Defining the RFID Roadmap
For enterprises considering RFID the key agenda is determining how to go about the implementation-defining the key result areas and addressing the right pain points and business issues to ensure effective implementation. According to Tandon, as an application RFID is not very complicated, but, one has to ensure RoI on applications they are investing in. It is, therefore, imperative to identify areas where the technology is going to add value. “It is important to make judicious use of RFID. Keeping factors such as RoI, increased cost and reduced margins, in some cases security or privacy concerns, in mind it is suggested that one should start with small pilots to see the actual results before committing to big investments,” adds Prakash. Essentially, identifying the right 'killer application', impact on topline and bottom line, and assessing short- and long-term impact of RFID on systems and processes, will be the key to RFID's success.

Shipra Arora
shipraa@cybermedia.co.in

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