An Indicators Framework for Sustainability Assessment of RFID Systems in Manufacturing

Nowadays, manufacturing companies need to operate a business and apply technology that are competitive as well as sustainable from a social, environmental as well as economical perspective. One of the technologies gaining substantial interests over manufacturing companies is radio frequency identification, which supports logistics and information flow within organizations. Much of the literature and theory surrounding assessment of RFID systems explores environmental (mainly positive) and economic (cost and benefits) impacts only. Some researchers have argued that current assessment methods often fail to involve sufficient evaluation in terms of social considerations. Therefore, an indicator-based sustainability assessment framework of RFID technology should be expected. This paper aims to close this research gap in the literature and present an indicators framework for sustainability assessment of RFID systems in manufacturing. Results depict a list of designed RFID indicators which, depending on the complexity of RFID technology to be implemented may convenient for assessing sustainability of the technology. It concludes based on the analyzed literature that the identification of RFID systems' industrial indicators lies in accessibility and reliability data used for their validation. Finally, the indicator-based framework for sustainability assessment is verified for its usefulness on the case of dynamic spaghetti diagrams supported by Real Time Locating System. The paper concludes with a brief discussion on opportunities and limits of RFID-dedicated sustainability indicators.