Technology Use in Chain Management - Radio Frequency Identification - Term Paper Example

Technology use in chain management Student name Institution Tutor Date Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Radio frequency identification 4 Conclusion 10 References 11 Technology use in chain management Introduction In order for a given organization to compete in a global market and remain stable, there must be involvement of several factors. Majority of the organizations are currently applying the modern technologies into their supply chain management systems. Nowadays the clients have increased their rates of demand as far as good services and better quality are concerned. The supply chain managers have come to realize that the latest technology can help them ensure better accountability and visibility, allowing them to maintain tight control and stay ahead of the pack. The essay will elaborate of the Radio frequency identification (RFID) and the Speech Recognition Radio frequency identification (RFID) technique is a widely applied technology in the business today. The RFID technology has proved useful in data recording monitoring and inventory keeping. This technology replaces the other former techniques used in theidentification of thebusiness product and people. The previous technologies like bar code reading have been replaced with this technology paving theway for a technology that is more successful than the rather(Ross, 2002). The RFID technology comes with many benefits over other technologies including its cost and efficiency. The benefits of RFID approach as a digitalized identification of products supersedes its shortcomings making it more reliable. Furthermore, the applications of this approach in firms have shown higher effectiveness and efficiency than most of the old methodsofidentification of the products. On the other hand, Speech Recognition (Voice recognition) is a software program, with the ability to decode a human voice, used in operating devices, execute commands or writing without using a keyboard, mouse or pressing any buttons. It is one of the emerging voice technologies for supply chain operations for hands-free data entry. Voice recognition is functional on devices with automated speech recognition (ASR) software programs, requiring the user to train the program to be able to recognize and convert the voice into text. The technology dates back from 1952 when the first ASR device was put to use and able to remember single digits spoken by a user(Capgemini Consulting, 2011). As business and people are turning to the digitalization of their services and products, Radio identification frequency and voice recognition serves a crucial role in makingthis possible. Radio frequency identification First, RFID has shown to be of more benefit than the former methods. The transformation of the previous methods to RFID has reported marked improvement in IT asset utilization. In this, RFID forms a core role in thetracking system for the servers, notebooks and other lab equipment(Bidgoli, 2010). Secondary, in small and large business enterprises RFID has improved the management of documents as it can track the location, chains of legal custody and status of these documents(Ross, 2002).This plays a significant role in both checkout and rental situations. Similarly, the use of RFID in business has reduced the size of inventory. Since RFID provides an accurate picture of the present inventory, it plays a crucial role a need for any additional backup inventory. Besides, since RFID provides better inventory precision it significantly reduces any additional labor to verify the commodities by counting(Bidgoli, 2010). Former data entry instrument usually resulted in multiple entries of data into the system to reflect what less to be more than it was. However, the new RFID eliminate this repetitive data entry. Besides, this technology is crucial in monitoring assets and products of high value for medical devices(Intermec, 2007). Similarly, this technology has been used to track products with a high rate of turnovers like clothes and books(Bidgoli, 2010). However, what makes these instruments more acceptable is the fact that they have the ability to meet the customer’s mandate Fig 1. A man using an radio frequency identification device (source ross) For a technology of such significance, there are numerous areas it can be applied. For example in the case study, the United States Navy has utilized this technology to manage their supply chain. In this, this technology has been used in data entry and management. Most of other companies are using this technology to implement shipping data entry(Ross, 2002). The technology has been employed in distribution, warehouse, and inventory keeping. By the use of mobile infrastructure, the companies can use few of the devices for data entry. This means that the few available devices are mounted to the forklift the can be used over distances, unlike the barcode readers that needed to be at every station Radio frequency identification (RFID). (2014). In addition, this reduces the investments required to acquire these devices. For this reason, RFID equipment has displaced the stationary models that once dominated in the data entry. Many organizations that have implemented this new technology are satisfied for its efficiency. When the strategy was put in place in the United States Navy, it had an efficiency of 98 percent. Elsewhere in track tracking, the method worked 24% faster in the recording the goods loaded for transport(Bidgoli, 2010). This process has reduced the amount of labor needed to verify data and stock taking thus adding to its efficiency(Bidgoli, 2010). Furthermore, this method is cheaper to employ compared to others. Whereas the cost per unit is high, the devices are mobile thus; very few are needed for each organization. Besides, in terms of workability the equipment is easy to use to provide the precision requiredin data entry. Since the sensor uses a radio wave to detect an object, the user does not even need to put reader close to the object to be recorded. All these make it easier to use with increased efficiency. However, this method like another technological advance has few setbacks. First, the method lacks a global standard as different manufacturers make the devices. This affects the customer standards. Secondly, since the RFID systems are electromagnetic, they can be easily tempered(Mohr, Sengupta, & Slater, 2010). If people use right frequency of energy, they can easily cause energy jam that can alter the entry(Mohr et al., 2010). Finally, there can be collisions that include reader and tag collation. Reader coalition occurs when signal overlaps from one or more products while tag alliance occurs when the products are close together that can cause security problems. Fig 2. Data showing on the expenditure on radio identification devices (source Mohr, et al. 2010) Speech recognition (SR) Speech recognition (SR) it refers to the process of words that are spoken into text form. The process may also be termed as "automatic speech recognition" (ASR), "computer speech recognition", or just "speech to text" (STT). Some of the systems associated with SR tend to use training feature also recognized as “enrolment"). In this case, the individual speaker is supposed to read the text or isolated vocabulary and record in into the established system. The system then plays the role of analysis the person’s voice and finally uses in the process of fine tuning fine hence enhancing accuracy. The systems that adopt this kind of technology are known as "speaker dependent" (Shadiev, R., Wu-Yuin, H., Nian-Shing, C., & Yueh-Min, H. 2014). Improvement of speech recognition over the years has made it applicable in many more places. Such areas include automated phone systems, to direct callers to the right department, google voice that enables users to search and ask questions in their computer, tablet, and phones. Also applicable in Bluetooth enabled cars to make various commands without taking the eyes off the road. As the larger IT trends of open systems continue to be improved, speech synthesis technology is now able to be embedded into many software packages including warehouse management, picking and put away, inventory, inspection. This is due to the development of terminal emulation- based speech synthesis technology. Terminal-emulation based synthesis technology reduces the need to stare at the display. The systems can function with warehouse management systems very well (Rabiner & Juang 2013, p.24). In the past, voice recognition application was for high throughput processes where speed and productivity were preferred to accuracy, especially for pickling purposes. Entry of data using bar code is more accurate than speech recognition that enables more productivity (Lee 2008, p.16). One important question to ask oneself is whether voice recognition technology is worth in the business world. Staying ahead in a business venture is the ultimate goal of any entrepreneur, and that usually comes with technology and innovation. Looking for ways to improve service provision demands improvements in customer service and other stakeholders such as suppliers. Voice recognition technology has expanded customer experiences, in providing fluent service. Employees are efficiently used as the program can handle incoming calls and forwarding calls. Hence, employees are put to better use somewhere else. The business can reduce its number of workers; therefore, do away with training costs, therefore, making the enterprise function efficiently. Many tiresome and boring activities related to phone calls are standardized, restructured and made accessible (Rabiner & Juang 2013, p.30). Fig 3. How speech recognition works (Source Mohr, et al. 2010) The technology is particularly significant and beneficial to people with visual impairments and those with physical problems, having difficulty in typing on keyboards. Hence, they can get employment and work with the help of voice synthesis programs as the business benefits (Rabiner & Juang 2013, p.26). In addition, speech synthesis has minimized the operational costs of companies, as they maximize costs, increase productivity and reduce work-related stress for the workers. The advances and improvements in voice recognition are incredible. Current systems are designed to recognize complicated and confusing accents, thereby reducing the frustrations users might face when using the programs. Additionally, the presence of many options and programs in the market gives the user a wide range of choices to the one that best suits him. As much as new technology is a real thing in improving productivity and efficiency of the business, however, it is not always 100% effective. The case is the same with voice recognition technology, as it comes with a few drawbacks. One of them is the initial training task upon purchase to recognize individual voices. The initial training is usually time-consuming as it may take time to learn a particular voice and way of speaking. People with thick accents may take even longer. A lot of patience and effort is thus required at first. Other users experience more difficulty as the program could struggle to identify a voice, therefore introducing awkwardness in the whole experience (Rabiner & Juang 2013, p.40). Unexpected delays with the programs could happen from time to time. It might happen that the program takes quite some time before it recognizes a particular voice. In addition, the voice recognition software only identifies standard or normal words in the English language, hence, making it limited, as it may not be always adequate. Again, using the program in noisy places might be hard due to background noise interference. The use of the software in such an environment is, therefore, limited. Additionally, one cannot use the program when one loses his voice for any given reason. Sometimes, the programs may lack accuracy and elicit misinterpretation, as programs cannot always get the context of languages as human do, causing errors. Prolonged use of the technology might cause some physical discomfort as well as vocal problems (Lee 2008, p.37). Conclusion Indeed, technology through RFID and speech recognition has comes handy in meeting most of data entry demands for the firm. They provide a fast mean of recording than no other product can provide. These technologies works with high precision thus producing high efficiency from inventory keeping tracking of products and recording significantly reducing the cost and labor that is required. References Bidgoli, H. (2010). The Handbook of Technology Management, Supply Chain Management, Marketing and Advertising, and Global Management. John Wiley & Sons. Capgemini Consulting. (2011). Digital Transformation of Supply Chains: Creating Value – When Digital Meets Physical, 12. Intermec. (2007). Top 10 Supply Chain Technology Trends, 6. Retrieved from www.intermec Lee, K. F., 2008. Automatic Speech Recognition: The Development of the Sphinx Recognition System. 2nd ed. Berlin: Springer-Verlag Mohr, J. J., Sengupta, S., & Slater, S. F. (2010). Marketing of High-technology Products and Innovations. Pearson Prentice Hall. Rabiner, L. R. & Juang, B., 2013. Fundamentals of Speech Recognition. 2nd ed. New York: PTR Prentice Hall Ross, D. F. (2002). Introduction to e-Supply Chain Management: Engaging Technology to Build Market-Winning Business Partnerships. CRC Press. Shadiev, R., Wu-Yuin, H., Nian-Shing, C., & Yueh-Min, H. (2014). Review of Speech-to-Text Recognition Technology for Enhancing Learning. Journal of Educational Technology & Society, 17(4), 65-84. Radio frequency identification (RFID). (2014). Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia, 1p. 1. Read More