1. What are the advantages and disadvantages for the company adopting RFID technology for inventory tracking and sales? 2. The company decided to experiment with RFID technology and use its Minneapolis store for its Pilot Project. You have been made the project manager for the pilot project. Enumerate how would you set up the pilot project? 3. What is the data that you would collect to evaluate this pilot program? How would you evaluate the data to ascertain if the pilot is successful? 4. What are the possible impediments in implementing the pilot program? How would you overcome these impediments? Think from both, the technology capability, stores personnel and customers point of view Greatgolf is a family owned business selling both, used and new golf equipment in the US. The company was established in 2008 and has grown in size employing more than 350 personnel in its stores, operations and warehouse. In addition to golf clubs, the company also sells new and discounted golf apparel, shoes, bags, golf balls and all other items associated with the game of golf. The company has nine stores located in Minneapolis, Tampa, Phoenix, Chicago and Boston. The stores have over 85,000 new and used clubs in the current inventory which are searchable on the company website - greatgolf.com. Each club in the inventory is unique because of a combination of the manufacturer, shaft material, shaft stiffness, loft, grip type and length. These attributes are captured during initial inspection when the club enters the inventory and the data is stored in the company ERP system. The club is then given an identification number and a barcode is affixed to the club for reference. The barcode also indicates the sale price club which prospective customers can view. Barcodes are also affixed to all the other items sold by the company. While this system seems to have been working well, sometime the barcode tag gets damaged or detached which causes problems in identifying and selling the item. This happens in about 2% of the cases when the clubs remain in inventory for longer periods of time and are transferred from store to store. In order to keep the inventory 'level' and exploit the longer playing season in the southern US, there are frequent transfers of inventory between the stores - ranging from 200 to 500 clubs per transfer. Each time new inventory comes into the store the clerks scan each barcode and update the store inventory before placing them on the shelf. This may take up to one day for large transfers. In keeping with new technology, the company is considering moving from barcodes to RFID chips which can be coded with the same information. They have identified a vendor who is willing to sell them the 'write once, read many times' RFID chips for a price of 12 cents/chip along with other associated equipment costing $18,000 per store. Please remember that everything in operations revolves around three factors - People, Process and Equipment