CGT Inside News - 1/25/2006 - verson 2
J & J Shares RFID Insight
By Tim Clark, Editor-in-Chief, [email protected]
January 25, 2006 - In 2004, Johnson & Johnson (J&J) recognized the importance of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) and implemented a governing structure around RFID across the entire organization. This RFID steering committee, comprised of executive leadership across the company's business groups, gives J&J a vehicle to track RFID pilots and strategies while gaining insight from the committee. "Strategically it enables us to identify where there might be business opportunities," says Mike Rose, vice president, RFID/EPC global value chain, J&J. "It helps us foster collaboration and leverage our learnings across the organization."
As for internal activities, J&J says it is beginning to make sense of data extracted from the Electronic Product Code (EPC), a shift from the company's initial RFID focus that was more technology-centric. "It's more about how you can gain insight from the data to enable a better process, or influence a process downstream," says Heather Snyder, RFID project manager, supply chain logistics operations, J&J. "EPC provides visibility at retail and that's an area in the supply chain that manufacturers typically don't have visibility to." Snyder says POS data helps gain some visibility, but in terms of how long inventory is sitting in the back room, or passing to the sales floor, EPC will streamline the process much further. "One of our initial benefits was finding the visibility where there once was none."
To learn more about how Johnson & Johnson and other leading consumer goods companies are making sense of EPC data, be sure to keep an eye out for the February issue of Consumer Goods Technology that contains a Best Practices section on RFID.
[PRINTER FRIENDLY VERSION]
By Tim Clark, Editor-in-Chief, [email protected]
January 25, 2006 - In 2004, Johnson & Johnson (J&J) recognized the importance of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) and implemented a governing structure around RFID across the entire organization. This RFID steering committee, comprised of executive leadership across the company's business groups, gives J&J a vehicle to track RFID pilots and strategies while gaining insight from the committee. "Strategically it enables us to identify where there might be business opportunities," says Mike Rose, vice president, RFID/EPC global value chain, J&J. "It helps us foster collaboration and leverage our learnings across the organization."
As for internal activities, J&J says it is beginning to make sense of data extracted from the Electronic Product Code (EPC), a shift from the company's initial RFID focus that was more technology-centric. "It's more about how you can gain insight from the data to enable a better process, or influence a process downstream," says Heather Snyder, RFID project manager, supply chain logistics operations, J&J. "EPC provides visibility at retail and that's an area in the supply chain that manufacturers typically don't have visibility to." Snyder says POS data helps gain some visibility, but in terms of how long inventory is sitting in the back room, or passing to the sales floor, EPC will streamline the process much further. "One of our initial benefits was finding the visibility where there once was none."
To learn more about how Johnson & Johnson and other leading consumer goods companies are making sense of EPC data, be sure to keep an eye out for the February issue of Consumer Goods Technology that contains a Best Practices section on RFID.
[PRINTER FRIENDLY VERSION]