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Colombian consumer goods manufacturers are using a solution that includes EPC tags and readers to track the arrival, loading and departure of the company’s trucks throughout Colombia.
One year after installing the RFID radio frequency identification system to better manage the logistics suppliers’ operations in their warehouses, Kimberly-Clark’s factory is located in Tocancipa, Colombia. It was discovered that the factory had improved efficiency when truck loading was delayed. Visibility. The factory uses this technology to manage the goods shipped by transportation companies, who are responsible for loading and shipping products for customers. KC Columbia shares data with these transportation companies to provide them with information about the status of their drivers’ shipments. In this way, logistics providers benefit from being forewarned of any delays and can arrange their trucks accordingly.
The products provided by the Tocancipa plant are approximately 2,000 to 2,500 vehicles per month, transported throughout Colombia. “Our problem has arisen,” said Ana Maria Gonzalez, a logistics business development analyst at Kimberly-Clark Columbia. “That is, logistics managers cannot clearly see which truck is assigned to carry the goods. , Or which truck has already loaded the goods.” When the truck departs for KC’s warehouse, the transportation company cannot know how long the truck will stay in that warehouse or whether there is a delay. Therefore, they will experience countless setbacks during their own delivery to customers.
In the waiting room in the Kimberly-Clark warehouse, RFID antennas are installed on the wall at the door to track the arrival and departure time of each driver.
In order to improve the control and monitoring of the entire logistics process, the factory deployed AutoID Systems’ RFID tracking system software solution based on Bogotá. The factory also installed ThingMagic readers at the entrance of the factory and the driver’s waiting area, and began to issue driver ID cards with built-in EPC Gen 2 passive ultra-high frequency (UHF) inlays.
The ID card relies on the RFID card printer encoder of Zebra Technologies. Each driver provides his name and company name. After being entered into the system, they are stored in the independent AutoID system software and reside on the back-end server of KC. Other information is also stored on the server, such as the size of a particular car, which helps the company track the loading process and budget the duration. The unique ID number of the RFID inlay is linked to other data of the driver. To date, Kimberly-Clark has enabled RFID-enabled ID cards for approximately 300 drivers.
When any of the 300 drivers arrived at KC’s factory, Gonzalez said that they first registered at the door and had to get out of the car to fill out a form. Then, the driver’s ID tag is recognized by the RFID reader and sent to the AutoID system software. The software stores the card ID and driver’s detailed information and links to his company. It also records the time and date when the driver has entered the factory for sorting.
Information about the driver, his arrival time, the vehicle he was driving, and his transportation company are displayed on the Web, and are only accessible to the staff of the logistics company and Kimberly-Clark. The logistics provider uses the Web site to learn which vehicles are available for loading and distribution, which have arrived at the factory, which terminals are currently available, and specific instructions for loading vehicles.
Ana Maria Gonzalez
The company provides ordinary ID cards for drivers who regularly transport KC products, who are not among the 300 drivers. When such drivers arrive at the factory, the guard at the door asks them to fill in the documents in the system and register. The driver also learned about the factory’s security regulations and logistics procedures. The staff of Kimberly-Clark issued him an ID card, which was valid only during the visit. The card recorded his personal data, such as the person’s name and the logistics provider. The data of this temporary ID will also be displayed on the warehouse monitor.
After registering at the gate, the driver drove into the dock, left the truck and entered the waiting room area of the warehouse. When someone walked into the room, the ThingMagic reader captured his ID number and forwarded the information to the AutoID system software. The software stores the time of arrival of the driver and correlates it with the estimated loading time. If the loading process takes longer than expected, the display will show information about the driver and the truck in red, thereby prompting a heavy load time.
Once the truck is fully loaded and the driver leaves the waiting area, the reader no longer receives the card ID number of the person. At this time, the software determines that the truck is now loaded and will leave the factory soon. When passing the gate, the driver got out of the car and handed over the documents for the last time. At this time, he read the ID card again and instructed the vehicle to leave the country.
“The solution brings a lot of information,” Gonzalez said. “You can know the arrival time of the driver and the truck, whether they arrived on time. In addition, we can know the waiting time of the driver in the waiting room. This is very important because we need to reduce working hours in all processes for our common interest. This is reflected in the loyalty and satisfaction of the driver, who prefers to load with us instead of cooperating with our competitors.”
In addition, Kimberly-Clark also uses data for business analysis. The company is not only able to determine the efficiency of the loading process. At any given date or time, it also tracks drivers and determines how often they arrive on time or be late. With this information, Gonzalez explained that the company is able to improve the punctuality of the work with the transportation company, thanks to the RFID system “, which greatly benefits KC and the transportation company.”
Due to the automatic management of each driver’s arrival and loading data, Gonzalez pointed out that it is impossible for the staff to advance one service driver to prefer another. What’s more, she said: “Drivers will not feel anxiously waiting because they know they have automatically registered. In fact, they can see the list of registered online monitoring.”
Gonzalez said, “We hope all drivers are proud to work in a company like ours. That’s why we are always looking for systems, software, etc., using cutting-edge technology to provide our suppliers with the best assistance and processes, as well as loading and Unload and provide a good place to rest.”
Kimberly-Clark plans to install a similar system in other factories in Colombia in early 2012.
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