An Analysis of Data-on-Tag Concepts in Manufacturing

Over time various drivers affecting information technology architecture design have been proposed which favored more centralization or decentralization. The last major shift towards centralization started in the late 1990s and was motivated by standardization, integration, and cost issues. With the advent of ubiquitous computing, the next inflection point heading towards decentralization might arise. This paper aims to improve the understanding of the decentralization debate by investigating the drivers that influence the design decision on whether or not to store data on a transponder label (‘tag’). The manufacturing domain is taken as an example for discussion from which key factors and management implications are derived. These form a model that can guide companies wishing to implement Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) on how to design their applications. 1 Practical Background Of all discussions in information technology, few have been as contradictory as that of information technology and (de)centralization. The ultimate goal has been to determine an appropriate arrangement for information technology resources such as hardware, software, communication equipment, data, and people within an organization. In general, the (de)centralization debate has tended towards examining trade-offs, in which the organizational advantages of centralized control, standardized operations, and economies of scale have been balanced against individual user department requirements, responsiveness and flexibility. However, an appropriate answer to the (de)centralization issue has not been found yet and for information technology departments the dilemma whether to centralize or decentralize remains [AB91, BJZ92, BR96, KCS03, Ki83]. With the advent of ubiquitous computing and its vision of smart objects equipped with digital logic, sensors, and actuators, the complexity further increases due to the ability to store data and to execute functions on a large number of objects themselves. This and the ability of these objects to interconnect, significantly contribute to the problem of finding the appropriate level of (de)centralization. Surprisingly though, whereas in practice most discussions on this issue are dominated by a centralized approach, significant amount of research is done to understand and develop the alternative, decentralized solution.