RFID in Japan

Omron's new production management system exploits RFID tags, video cameras, access/security control systems, etc. This system works in the following way:

• Employees carry mandatory RFID tags (or RFID cards)
• System monitors employees' whereabouts using antennas
• System analyses employees' work performance (how much one is contributing to production)
• Beased on the previous steps, employee allocation is optimized and quality of products is improved.

The company had been testing the system at their sensor factory in Kyoto since last October. They say that the return was about $2M (for the initial investment of about $1M.)

I think systems like this should be assessed more carefully - thinking only about ROI seems like a tunnel vision approach and ignores complex changes that may occur in employees and their work practices. What would be long-term effects of this?

via Nikkei Sangyo Shimbun, April 22, in Japanese

Posted by konomi at May 4, 2005 01:10 AM | TrackBack