RFID in Manufacturing: Mapping the Shop Floor to IT-Enabled Business Processes

In this thesis, I investigate how radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology can contribute to the optimization of production processes. RFID allows the automatic identification of entire batches of goods on the level of pallets, cases, or even individual items. Moreover, RFID facilitates electronic data collection under circumstances in which alternative technologies – e.g., bar codes – cannot be applied. Companies can use these data to create models of their business processes which enable them to gain a virtual image of aspects of their enterprise, such as their shop floor or supply chain. This virtual image can help them acquire higher awareness of problems and localize potentials for process optimizations. In the first chapters of my thesis I analyze potential benefits and challenges of using RFID to improve production processes. To this end, I conducted case studies at six German manufacturing enterprises in which I explore possible RFID scenarios. Based on the case studies I evaluate seven use cases for RFID. They are either a replacement of bar codes or an application that can only be realized using RFID. Furthermore, I evaluate which challenges the manufacturer has to face when applying RFID. Chapters 4 and 5 of my thesis deal with the question of how RFID can be embedded into an existing IT infrastructure. For this I first evaluate general IT infrastructures at diverse manufacturers by conducting seven additional case studies. I then design guidelines for integrating the RFID requirements obtained from the case studies into existing software systems, showing where RFID data processing can fit in. The manufacturing domain still lacks dedicated models for evaluating costs and benefits of an RFID rollout especially concerning the intangible, non-quantifiable aspects of such an investment. Therefore, Chapter 6 presents such a model. In Chapter 7 I look beyond inter-enterprise RFID applications in manufacturing: RFID can ensure real-time information sharing when implemented in inter-organizational systems along the supply chain. However, besides challenges in intra-organizational scenarios of applying RFID in production processes, I can also observe an inter-organizational reservation of embedding RFID in supply chains. Therefore, I analyze and identify important determinants of adopting RFID in supply chains; taking the automotive as an example.