REVOLUTIONIZE YOUR LOGISTICS & SUPPLY CHAIN OPERATIONS WITH “RFID” SYSTEM:

RFID?technology is revolutionizing company’s supply chain operations by with inventory tracking, potentially improving product availability, can potentially optimizing and improve their supply chain operations. But you need a plan to find and install the right system for the job. Follow these five steps to design the perfect RFID system for your business.

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Used effectively, this technology offers an efficient, accurate, and secure way to?track and manage assets. RFID systems use radio waves to identify and track objects, which makes them ideal for any industry that needs to precisely?manage inventory, track assets, or optimize the supply chain.

To start?tracking assets, your business needs a robust?RFID system?and processes in place. However, building an effective RFID system requires careful planning and implementation. Follow these five steps to build an effective RFID system that can simplify asset tracking and help to streamline your business.

#. Building an Effective RFID System:

Step 1: Define Your Business Requirements

Before you install an RFID system, it’s a good idea to define your requirements first. What do you want to achieve with an RFID system? What systems or processes will it improve?

When you understand what the goal is, it’s much easier to determine the type of RFID tags and readers you need, the frequency of the radio waves, and the software required to manage all the data.

For example, in a manufacturing plant, the goal of an RFID system might be to optimize inventory management and streamline production processes. In a retail store, the goal might be to improve the accuracy and speed of inventory management, reduce stock outs, and improve customer satisfaction.

These goals require completely different setups, which is why it’s so important to know your requirements before setting up an RFID system.

Step 2: Choose the Right RFID Tags

RFID tags?come in three forms. Each type has advantages and disadvantages, so it’s best to choose the option that works best for your business:

• Passive tags:?Passive tags are the most common type of RFID tag because they’re inexpensive and don’t require a power source. They rely on the energy emitted by a reader to transmit data. Because of that, passive tags have limited range and are only effective within a few feet of the reader.
• Active tags:?Active tags have their own power source, which makes them suitable for tracking assets over long distances. They can transmit data over a much greater range than passive tags, so they’re ideal for large-scale logistics. However, active tags are more expensive than passive tags and require more maintenance.
• Semi-passive tags:?Semi-passive tags have a battery to power the tag’s circuitry, but rely on the reader’s energy for communication. They offer a longer range than passive tags and are less expensive than active tags, which makes them a good compromise for different applications.

If you need help choosing RFID tags, consider the?types of items?you want to track. You should also consider the environment where you’ll use the tags, as well as the range capabilities of the reader.

Step 3: Select the Appropriate RFID Readers

RFID readers are the devices that read the information stored on RFID tags. The type of reader you choose will depend on the range you need, the frequency of the tags, and the environment.

Fixed readers are ideal for tracking items in a specific location. These are stationary devices that you can mount on walls, ceilings, or other structures. Fixed readers are often used in manufacturing plants, warehouses, and retail stores to monitor inventory levels and track the movement of goods through the supply chain.

Handheld readers offer more mobility than fixed readers. They’re often used in logistics and transportation industries to track assets over a large area. Handheld readers are also useful for field service and maintenance applications, where technicians need to track the location and status of equipment and tools.

Step 4: Determine the Software Requirements

RFID tags are helpful, but they generate a lot of data. Your business needs some type of platform or process for managing all of this data. This includes software to manage inventory, track assets,?tools, or?equipment, and monitor the movement of goods through the supply chain.

The software you choose should be able to integrate with your existing systems, including your ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) system, WMS (Warehouse Management System), or other?inventory management?and supply chain software.

Look for a software solution that can pull helpful analytics and generate reports. The better the reporting, the better the insights you can glean from your software to make more informed decisions about your assets.

Step 5: Test and Optimize the System

Once you’ve selected the appropriate tags, readers, and software, it’s time to test the system. Start by testing the system in a small area or with a small number of assets. This makes it easier to pinpoint any issues and make adjustments before rolling out the system on a larger scale.

You might need to change the reader placement, adjust the tags’ frequency, or tweak your software settings. Once you optimize the system, you can roll it out to other areas of your business or expand it to cover a larger number of assets.

#.Some of the benefits?RFID can bring?to the supply chain:

1. Improves product tracking through WMS integration

Warehouse management systems?(WMS) track the receipt, storage and distribution of goods. A WMS stores data about inventory levels, product locations, reordering details and other information that users may require for supply chain management.

Users can integrate RFID technology with a WMS to potentially make product tracking faster, easier and more accurate.

2. Improves product handling efficiency

RFID tags?can also help with route planning and goods handling within and between supply chain locations.

Warehouse employees can put RFID tags on logistics assets like trucks, containers, forklifts and other material handling equipment so workers know the location of equipment at all times and can quickly retrieve it to transport products.

3. Increases inventory counting speed

RFID tags and scanners can help speed up?inventory counting and reconciliation, because warehouse employees can use handheld RFID devices to easily and accurately scan RFID tags. Some scanners count tags one-by-one for every individual item, while others can near-simultaneously count all the tags in a particular location.?

Faster and more frequent inventory counting can result in more accurate inventory management as well.

4. Helps fix incorrect inventory counts:

RFID technology makes it easier?to identify the source of issues with receiving, storing or distributing products. Warehouse employees can use RFID to trace an individual product's movement and investigate why a discrepancy occurred. For example, if an employee stored an item in the wrong location, an RFID scanner may identify the tag elsewhere and alert the user.?

Since RFID provides information about how the problem occurred, it can potentially help warehouse managers take steps to prevent the issue from recurring.

5. Helps improve product availability/visibility:

Today's customers expect all goods to be available at all times, and combining consumer demand information with RFID's product tracking can help suppliers ensure their products will be in stock when needed.

Suppliers, manufacturers and retailers that use RFID know products' locations at all times because RFID can track products throughout the supply chain. These groups can then match the number of products in a certain location and ensure they have enough to meet expected sales levels and forecasts.

6. Helps automate product receipt, storage and distribution

Today's warehouses often use automation to attempt to speed up goods receipt, inventory storage, picking and distribution, and RFID enables robotics and other technologies to identify, handle and route products.

Product tags help robots sense products and store them in or retrieve them from a specific location, and packaging tags enable automated technology to select the ideal package types for particular items. Equipment tags help robots move products using specialized picking and packing technology.

Automation technology can reduce the need for human labor, which may reduce a company's overall costs.

7. Helps optimize the manufacturing process

RFID can help lower manufacturing costs and increase manufacturing speed?while still?maintaining quality standards.

Suppliers can use RFID tags to track raw materials and parts within their facilities, potentially reducing the need for reordering if a part believed to be lost is found. In addition, manufacturing machines can use RFID to identify and select components and construct them into consumer-ready goods.