Over the course of the last fifteen years, universal product codes (UPCs) have become the dominant product-tracking standard across all industries. Created by U.S. manufacturers to negate the lure of much cheaper offshore manufacturing labor and championed by industry retailing giants, UPC improved product tracking across multiple trading partners, reduced labor costs, and sped up product replenishment. But like all technologies before it, the next great leap in the evolution of product tracking has emerged–automatic identification technologies. These technologies allow systems to identify objects and capture information, providing organizations with much greater degrees of control and flexibility in managing goods as they move through the supply chain.

One such automatic identification technology is radio frequency identification (RFID). Accurately seen by many in the industry as the next transformational technology, RFID promises higher quality information and real-time tracking, with less human interaction required. This is especially true for the pharmaceutical industry, where careful tracking of drugs is becoming increasingly paramount in light of counterfeiting, gray market product, diversion, drug dilution, recalls and overall emphasis on inventory management and visibility throughout the supply chain.

This paper will briefly identify what RFID technology is and how it works. It will then detail the market drivers and needs, meeting the unique challenges of the pharmaceutical manufacturer, and a discussion about a recent pharmaceutical pilot where Manhattan Associates is working closely with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Accenture and key pharmaceutical organizations to accelerate RFID adoption in the industry. Moving forward, readers will learn about what they can do to realize the benefits of RFID technology in the pharmaceutical supply chain. Finally, an implementation strategy will be reviewed, beginning with implementation within the four walls of the distribution center (DC) and extending to synchronization with trading partners.