Interstate Battery Company deploys RFID technology to improve efficiency and product awareness
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After several years of preliminary testing of RFID technology, the RFID pilot project of the automotive battery supplier Interstate Battery has entered the “verification phase.” The solution was jointly developed by Interstate Battery and Minnesota technology company Seeonic. The project started in November 2013 and involved the deployment of 2 million batteries with RFID tags, 2,200 RFID storage racks, and 29 trucks carrying batteries. By deploying readers in stores and transportation vehicles, the company can know the product inventory of each dealer or store, the status of the transportation vehicle at any particular moment, and the sales status of the store.
In the next year, Interstate Battery (the largest supplier of automotive batteries in the United States) will study how to better useRFIDCollect the data and determine the next deployment plan. Bruce Hellen, manager of the company’s business practice department, pointed out that such a large-scale and complex project requires a series of steps. The technical verification phase is a process to ensure that the collected data can be effectively applied. He also said that the project is currently progressing smoothly.
In 2012, Seeonic and Interstate Battery tested RFID technology in four stores in Twin Cities, Minnesota. Then, the two companies analyzed the test results. One of the challenges of the project is that the battery is full of lead and liquid, which also makes the reading environment of RFID signals quite harsh. Hellen said that Seeonic’s Eye reader antenna (a cheap 4.5-inch by 5.5-inch antenna) solves this problem.
Hellen said that in the verification phase, the company will deploy RFID technology and try data management in a larger and more complex environment. Seeonic co-founder and chief marketing officer Harley Feldman said that the company provided approximately 2 million tags with SmartracEPC Gen2 passive ultra-high frequency (UHF) inlays for interstate batteries.
Interstate Battery installed 2,200 tags on the IB smart shelf where the marked batteries are stored. IB smart shelf is provided by Display Display Source. These shelves are of different sizes, and each has a built-in Seeonic multi-antenna array and is connected to the SightWare reader provided by ThingMagic.
The SightWare reader is powered by AC or DC batteries and can periodically capture the ID number emitted by the tag and transmit it to Seeonic’s Seeniq cloud software.
Seeonic software can filter the read data into stock-keeping unit (SKU), product quantity, and location information and transmit it to Interstate Battery’s own management software. Then, Interstate Battery can log in to the software to view the inventory status of each store. In this way, managers can replenish goods based on actual inventory requirements. Using this system, the company hopes to minimize inventory while ensuring supply. Hellen said the company’s goal is to reduce inventory by 30%.
Interstate battery’s RFID transport truck, the IB smart truck, is equipped with an onboard SightWare reader to read the battery ID number. In this way, the driver does not need to count manually in the car. Before the departure, the driver had to manually check the number of transport vehicles carried and compare the data with the transport report. Hellen said that RFID technology can reduce inventory management time by 30 minutes a day.
Interstate batteries will also use SmartRruck data to more accurately calculate the weight of the transport vehicle (by calculating the number of batteries and their types) to ensure compliance with the regulations of the relevant US transportation agencies.
Feldmen said: “Through sales data collection, RFID technology can make inventory management more precise.”
Hellen commented: “RFID can let you know which steps in the process are completed well and which steps are invalid. We have proven the reliability of the RFID system, and now we need to find ways to use RFID data to improve our business processes. We also Some simple and complex data utilization were carried out. Simple applications are easy to verify, and we are also satisfied with the preliminary results. Complex applications require more testing.”
Feldman said that the technology allows companies to know the inefficient parts of the process and provides some solutions to problems.
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