Purpose Lean manufacturing is one of the leading paradigms for fast and proficient manufacturing but its proper implementation is a foremost task due to certain barriers affecting lean and can be handled when utilized with RFID technology. With this aspect in view, the purpose of this paper is to enlighten and present a thorough literature study that can show how RFID-based lean manufacturing is helpful for handling barriers affecting lean manufacturing in light of previous literature available. Design/methodology/approach In order to achieve this purpose a systematic literature review is conducted to justify the impacts of RFID technology for handling barriers. The aim of this systematic literature review is to initially find the barriers affecting lean implementation and then to explain the properties of RFID-based lean manufacturing which are highly feasible to handle detected barriers. Findings An interrelation is generated in this study which provides a clear indication that the properties of RFID carry significant effects to handle detected barriers in the operational, managerial and financial regime of manufacturing companies. The detected barriers that affect lean implementation are company’s cultures, top management commitment, poor employee administration, lack of finances, unbalanced inventory control, unstable customer handling and longer lead times. The properties of RFID-based lean manufacturing like operational visibility, inventory control, production control, minimized lead times and the real-time data information (to facilitate top management and employees on shop floor) are extremely helpful to control these barriers. Originality/value The originality of this study is the provision of clarity provided to both academicians and practitioners by citing and utilizing previous research studies which undoubtedly indicates positive impacts of RFID on lean implementation.

No abstract

No abstract

This paper combines a study of human body morphology with physical layer characteristics to introduce a novel biometric identity feature for security in wearable communication applications. The physical layer characteristics of close fitting wearable devices are shown to vary in a unique manner through electromagnetic interactions between the tissue morphology and the antenna. Experimental measurement results demonstrate the new biometric concept using return loss characteristics to identify individuals on multiple body parts. An optimised directional coupler design is implemented with the antenna to optimize the characteristic feature detection range for human identification. Experiments conducted on human subjects using a prototype standalone test-bed and sensing circuitry at 2.45 GHz, shows that, classification accuracies of over 98% are achieved for stationary subjects and 93% for mobile subjects. The new physical layer biometric, has the potential to be used for authentication and authorization by using return loss as an indicator for secure user applications, using circuitry already implemented in wireless wearable communication systems. Index Terms-biometric, antenna characteristics, return loss, directional coupler, wearable antenna, physical layer security. John McAllister (S02-M2004-SM12) received the Ph.D. degree in Electronic Engineering from Queens University Belfast, U.K., in 2004. He is currently a member of academic staff in the Institute of Electronics, Communications and Information Technology (ECIT) at the same university and an Associate Researcher at LInstituit National des Sciences Appliques (INSA) Rennes, France. His research interests are in the design and implementation of embedded data, signal and image processing applications. He is Vice-Chair of the IEEE