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The online revolution of RFID
Modern logistics involves a large number of complex products, and its supply chain structure is extremely complex, often with a large geographic span, so the accuracy and timeliness of information is very high. Relevant survey data show that a distribution center spends 11,000 hours in manual inventory and scanning bar codes each year.Internet of ThingsRFID technology overcomes these shortcomings of bar codes, automates the process, and provides real-time data for the supply chain. According to analysis, if RFID is adopted, Wal-Mart can save 8.35 billion U.S. dollars each year, most of which is the labor cost of scanning bar codes. In addition, RFID can solve the loss caused by out of stock, theft and supply chain disruption in the retail industry, and Wal-Mart’s annual loss due to theft amounts to 2 billion US dollars.
RFID is characterized by the use of radio waves to transmit identification information, free of space constraints, and fast tracking of items and data exchange. At work, the distance between the RFID tag and the “reader” can reach tens of meters or even hundreds of meters. Through non-contact information collection of long-distance targets (objects, equipment, vehicles, and people) in various states (high-speed moving or stationary), they can be automatically identified and managed automatically. Because RFID technology eliminates manual intervention in the tracking process, it can greatly improve work efficiency while saving a lot of manpower, so it has great appeal to logistics and supply chain management.
The biggest advantage of RFID wireless two-way communication is that it is non-contact, can realize batch reading and remote reading, can identify high-speed moving objects, and can realize the real “one object, one code”. This kind of system can greatly simplify the inventory management of items and meet the demands of increasing information flow and increasing information processing speed.
RFID technology is revolutionary. Some people call it the “online revolution”. It can wirelessly connect all items to the Internet. In the foreseeable time, RFID tags will develop rapidly and coexist with barcodes for a long time. RFID tags and barcodes are suitable for different occasions, and each has its own advantages: barcodes are suitable for extremely low-cost items, while RFID is suitable for high-speed movement or simultaneous identification of multiple targets.
At present, the application of RFID technology in China is mainly concentrated in the transportation industry. More mature applications include the national railway number recognition system, the Shanghai Metro Pearl Line control system, and the Dalian Port container management. In addition, applications in access control, parking lot management and highway toll management have also begun to take shape. With the in-depth development of the logistics industry’s transformation and development, RFID will be promoted as the main technology application.
A booster for efficient growth
In March of this year, in Dalian Dayaowan Port area, the Dalian Railway Container Central Station next to the container terminal, three four-story rail-mounted gantry cranes were lowered, and more than 10 container trucks slid along the operation line and unloaded from the railway car body. The lowered containers are directly loaded onto trucks by gantry cranes and sent to the container terminal across the way for loading on ships. Since the Dalian Central Station started the operation of container sea-rail combined transportation in July last year with the adjustment of the port route layout, the operation volume has increased rapidly, and the operation volume in the first two months of this year exceeded 18,000 TEUs.
Such efficient operation is due to the full adoption of RFID. As the only port-type central station for railway containers in the Northeast, Dalian Central Station relies on advanced infrastructure and equipment, and through close cooperation between ports and railways, continuously optimizes and adjusts the operation process of container sea-rail combined transportation. At present, the loading operations are basically realized in the port. , Station direct pickup, and the proportion of unloading operations has gradually increased. Through the overall operation plan coordination between ports and stations, the process of container landing storage and re-lifting and transportation is reduced. With the reduction of operation links, the amount of equipment operation and energy Consumption has also been greatly reduced, and operational efficiency and capacity have been significantly improved.
At the job site, the gantry crane hoisted the container from the train to the container truck. The operation time for a single container was about two minutes. With three gantry cranes operating at the same time, it would take about an hour to unload a whole row of 40-foot heavy containers. The car body here has just been unloaded, and the containers to be transported to the northeast hinterland have been transported by trucks to the gantry crane. According to the person in charge of the central station, all the current cyclic trains stay on site within 8 hours. During the Spring Festival, the central station can complete 12 trains a day at most.
Although the work is busy, there are not many staff on site. The person in charge of the central station specifically introduced the wireless dispatching command system in use: “The facility layout of the central station is separated from the container terminal by a single line, and the operation information system is more closely integrated and seamlessly linked.” All operation plans are Prepared in advance and jointly determined through the port community system and related partners such as customers, terminals and railways. After the truck hauls the container into the fully automated gate channel shared by the central station and the container terminal, the box number recognition system automatically recognizes the box number, the RFID vehicle number recognition system automatically recognizes the vehicle number, and the disability inspection system inspects the box. All data is in The system checks the operation plan of the terminal, station, and customer, and automatically releases it after confirmation. At the same time, the operation instructions are sent to the gantry crane terminal through the wireless network, and the driver can operate according to the instructions, which greatly improves the efficiency and accuracy of the operation.
Dalian Central Station currently has more than 10 car bodies circulating in Changchun East, Qiqihar, Wukeshu, Ranghu Road, Shenyang, Harbin and other lines, and will coordinate with the relevant railway departments to increase the distribution capacity in response to the increased freight demand at any time to ensure sea rail Intermodal cargo will be transported on arrival. In the future, centering on the three central stations of Dalian, Shenyang, and Harbin, relying on Dalian Station will further build a railway container network radiating the hinterland of the Northeast, and improve the container sea-rail combined transport channel connecting the cities and ports in the Northeast.
At present, although RFID has not been rapidly applied in the logistics supply chain as predicted by many industry observers, with the development of standards and price restrictions and other factors, the general development trend of applications has become increasingly clear. According to the latest news, foreign countries have achieved 5 cents each, and the lowest domestic price is 7 cents each. Nevertheless, for large-scale promotion, the prices of IoT RFID tags and reading devices are still too high. And price and scale are a contradiction. Manufacturers hope to reduce costs by expanding their scale, while more users are waiting for prices to decrease before entering. Although the industry is generally optimistic about RFID technology, there are not many systems actually put into operation in the real scale. The research report shows that for a supplier to meet Wal-Mart’s basic RFID requirements, it costs approximately US$1.3 million to US$2 million. Together with related software and hardware facilities, integrated services, system testing and training, etc., the annual investment cost will increase by 9.13 million. Dollar.
To solve the price bottleneck of RFID in our country, we must also solve the localized production of tags and reading equipment. At present, there are only two domestic companies that have the core technology and the production capacity of reading equipment with independent intellectual property rights. As for labels, it seems that there is no domestic company that can produce independently. However, the promotion of RFID can be based on the actual situation of my country’s supply chain management. It is necessary to select suitable businesses, find suitable entry points and application models, carry out application trials as soon as possible, and use the “small steps and fast walk” method to achieve results and experience, and further promote.Specifically, you can consider choosing applications that are urgently needed in the current supply chain management (such as supply chain full-process monitoring) and applications that are suitable for taking advantage of the characteristics of RFID (such asfoodAnd drug quality tracking), and use this as the basis for establishing RFID software infrastructure and inspection standards.
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