RFID Integration: Trying to Connect

By Doug Bartholomew, Contributing Editor Accenture (Chicago) recently completed the first phase of an RFID pilot study ( September 2004, p. 55) While participants agreed on the benefits, once again, the integration issues facing the industry loomed large. Although it bent over backward to downplay the negative, Accenture found in RFID an immature technology that promises to test the mettle of IT experts to install and get working smoothly with existing systems that support manufacturing. “We are still learning about what it will take to scale and integrate RFID with existing order-taking, inventory management and warehouse managements systems at pharmaceutical firms,” says Accenture consultant Jamie Hintlian. “We have questions about the maturity of the technology. It’s not quite yet ready for use on all products.” For instance, for oral solid-dosage forms, it’s ready, but for liquids and products such as refrigerated drugs and biologics, there are still challenges to overcome, Hintlian says. Doesn’t the industry know it. Integrating RFID looms as the main issue facing most drug firms today. “This is the current focus of the industry,” Hintlian says. The cost of tagging products with RFID tags is one thing. “A bigger cost will be the integration issues and the skills cost, and for most companies that cost will depend on the current skill level of their IT staff,” he says. Rainer Kerth, RFID lead architect for the IBM Software Group (Somers, N.Y.), agrees. “The data capture side of RFID is new, and not many companies have these skills in-house,” says Kerth. “It depends on the size of the company and whether its IT staff has the right skills as to whether they will want to engage someone who has done this kind of integration before.” Another big integration challenge will come when each drug manufacturer, having installed RFID technology in