Choosing the Right Systems Integrator
There are many companies that will help you with your RFID pilot or deployment, but finding the best one requires matching your needs to the firm's capabilities.
By Mary Catherine O'Connor
June 1, 2005—Brian Foster had a problem. As IT manager for Bradshaw International, a distributor of Good Cook brand and private-label kitchenware to Wal-Mart, Albertsons and many other large retailers, it was his job to ensure that his company could meet Wal-Mart's mandate to put RFID tags on pallets and cases by January 2005. Bradshaw isn't among Wal-Mart's top 100 suppliers and wasn't required to do so, but the company wanted to steal a march on its competitors, show Wal-Mart its interest in embracing RFID and explore how the technology could streamline its own internal operations.
Foster had made up his mind that he did not want to deploy a new software platform to run the RFID tagging system. He wanted to integrate the RFID system with Axiom, the warehouse management system (WMS) that Bradshaw has been using since 1997, before it was commercialized. Foster attended conferences and seminars to meet RFID systems integrators with experience deploying RFID programs.
"The vendors all told me, 'We have RFID in a box,'" Foster says, "but it didn't seem like any of them had a complete solution that would tie into our WMS system." That was a sticking point. If he couldn't find a company willing to work with Bradshaw to integrate the RFID system with Axiom, Foster was willing to proceed without a systems integrator. (For more on working without an integrator, see "Going It Alone".)
June 1, 2005—Brian Foster had a problem. As IT manager for Bradshaw International, a distributor of Good Cook brand and private-label kitchenware to Wal-Mart, Albertsons and many other large retailers, it was his job to ensure that his company could meet Wal-Mart's mandate to put RFID tags on pallets and cases by January 2005. Bradshaw isn't among Wal-Mart's top 100 suppliers and wasn't required to do so, but the company wanted to steal a march on its competitors, show Wal-Mart its interest in embracing RFID and explore how the technology could streamline its own internal operations.
Foster had made up his mind that he did not want to deploy a new software platform to run the RFID tagging system. He wanted to integrate the RFID system with Axiom, the warehouse management system (WMS) that Bradshaw has been using since 1997, before it was commercialized. Foster attended conferences and seminars to meet RFID systems integrators with experience deploying RFID programs.
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"The vendors all told me, 'We have RFID in a box,'" Foster says, "but it didn't seem like any of them had a complete solution that would tie into our WMS system." That was a sticking point. If he couldn't find a company willing to work with Bradshaw to integrate the RFID system with Axiom, Foster was willing to proceed without a systems integrator. (For more on working without an integrator, see "Going It Alone".)
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