Analysis of Tobyhanna Army Depot's Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) program: RFID as an asset management tool

Abstract

The purpose of this MBA project is to identify the potential value of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) used for inventory and asset management at the Tobyhanna Army Maintenance Depot. Tobyhanna Army Depot recently partnered with WhereNet Corporation for a pilot program to incorporate a real-time locating system that uses RFID. The pilot program tracks the AN/TPS-75 and AN/TRC-170 systems through the maintenance processes to determine if RFID is beneficial. The RFID asset management system proved beneficial to increase process efficiency and reduce the number of wasted labor hours used to find misplaced items. The cost-benefit analysis at the Tobyhanna Army Depot RFID pilot program indicates a Return on Investment of less than one year and supports previous research conducted on RFID as an asset management tool. Tobyhanna's investment in advancing technology essentially paid for itself within one year when measured in labor cost savings and yielded an annual savings of 837 Repair Cycle Time days. Since the primary infrastructure for RFID is already funded and fully operational, the payoff period on incremental investment is likely to be much shorter in the future.