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Marigold produces protective gloves for workers who handle items like sharp knives, hazardous chemicals or frozen packaging. In order to better monitor the materials used to produce these gloves and improve the ability to track the final product, the company has installed an RFID system based on passive EPC Gen 2 tags and readers on its Poiares production facility in Portugal.
This new system replaced the paper-and-pencil tracking process at the beginning of this year, and the system has increased the accuracy of inventory and shipping records. Marigold said that once the system is adjusted to its best condition, it should also reduce the time required to complete the inventory count. CreativeSystems is the system integrator for this project.
When a pallet containing material boxes and parts (like materials and cloths of different levels) arrives at the factory, Marigold employees key in the corresponding purchase order number into the computer connected to the RFID label printing encoder. The software Backoffice developed by CreativeSystems runs on the computer and communicates with the SAP Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software used by Marigold. The ERP software calls up the detailed order information of the order form, and then sends the information to the Backoffice software, which generates an RFID tag for each expected material or component box.
Each tag contains an Avery Dennison RFID inlay made from NXP Semiconductors UCode EPC Gen 2 chip. Backoffice software assigns a unique ID number coded on the chip and related to the order information.
Staff put RFID tags into each box during shipment. The box then moves through an RFID reader on the dock. At the same time, Backoffice records the incoming shipment data and checks it with the purchase order information. If the box number does not match the number displayed on the order, the software will send a warning signal so that the staff can find and deal with the difference.
After the labeled material boxes are put into the warehouse for storage, they are counted once a month. Before the RID system was adopted, employees had to manually check warehouse inventory every week, so the new technology shortened labor time. However, Marigold’s RFID manager Miguel Roxo said that he and his colleagues encountered some problems when reading the tags placed in these boxes, and they are now increasing the tag reading rate.
βIn the beginning, we put RFID tags anywhere on the boxes, and then put the boxes on the pallet before putting them in the warehouse,β Roxo explained. “When we read the tags with the Alien Technology EPC Gen 2 handheld reader, we found that some tags could not be read because they were placed on the inner side of the box facing the pallet.”
This problem is most serious when the reader tries to read the cotton pads that are used to make gloves, because the pads are so tightly packed into the box. Since liners account for almost 60% of the inventory, and the staff using handheld readers to read these goods can only reach a reading rate of 90%, this has become an important issue. But by turning the box on the pallet to make the RFID tag outward, or by using Alien’s reader installed on a forklift and connected to four independent antennas, Roxo believes that the company will be able to greatly improve the tag. Reading rate-enough to achieve a reading rate close to 100% comparable to the remaining 40% of the inventory.
Marigold also uses RFID systems to track its manufacturing and shipping processes. When the factory receives an order for gloves from a customer or distributor, the software will notify the employees to take out the boxes of materials and parts that need to complete that order. The RFID tags on these materials are read when they pass through the door of the reader. The reader is installed between the warehouse and the production area. The software tracks this activity so that the manager can see how many boxes of a certain material are used in production, and You can calculate how much inventory is left at any time.
Once the material is made into gloves, the finished product is placed in a box (there is a certain standard for the quantity of each product in each box), and the box is labeled and tracked through RFID technology, similar to the way materials are tracked. The staff enters the ERP software and calls up the current order information, and then associates those data with the type and quality of the newly produced product. Through Backoffice, RFID shipping labels for each box of finished products are produced. A unique ID number is generated and coded into each inlay, which is linked to the customer’s order.
The labeled boxes are transported directly to the loading dock, where the staff put the boxes on the pallets for shipment. Distributors who buy Marigold products and sell them through various channels will accept some finished products. The remaining orders are shipped to a distribution center operated by Marigold. The company uses the distribution center to manage the ordered products before the goods reach the customer.
Each pallet is placed on an unpacking machine before being loaded on the truck, where the pallet rotates to wrap the film on the box to ensure the safety of the pallet during transportation. When the box rotates, the RFID reader fixed nearby captures the ID numbers of the RFID tags on all the boxes.
Backoffice software then compares the label ID number and its related product information with the packing list to ensure that all the products that complete the order are ready and the quantity is correct.
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Roxo said that RFID tags are currently only used for the internal management of Marigold’s Poiares factory, although he said the company hopes to eventually install readers in its distribution center so that RFID tags can be used to identify and track orders entering and leaving the distribution center.
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