Implementation case of RFID reader in the construction of digital warehouse in Hangzhou Cigarette Factory
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one.business background
At present, the multinational commercial retail giants have invested heavily in their supply chain strategy, planning, operation management, distribution center planning, warehouse planning, etc., using today’s most advanced science and technology to establish a fast and efficient operating system.
In the early stage of the sales network, the regional supply chain operation of the enterprise gradually tends to be fully intensive. With the gradual increase in the number and variety of daily incoming and outgoing goods, and the increasingly complex customer needs, this has resulted in increased investment in human resources, increased difficulty in warehousing management, and Many factors such as capital occupation are not conducive to intensive operation. Before the construction of the digital warehouse project, the original distribution center warehouse inventory management relied on manual methods, which could only achieve floor-level management, and could not distinguish between batches of inventory goods. When the goods are shipped from the warehouse, the first-in-first-out management of the goods cannot be achieved, which leads to long-term storage of some goods in the warehouse, which affects the quality of the products and the image of the company.
The inventory management of the original cigarette distribution center warehouse relied on manual reports and manual statistics. As a result, company leaders and related departments such as the telephone order center were unable to accurately understand the warehouse inventory information in a timely manner. In addition, with the development of the company’s business, the number and variety of daily incoming and outgoing goods have gradually expanded, and customer needs have become increasingly complex. Whether the warehouse inventory can be managed in real time has become an important factor affecting the establishment of a fast and efficient operating system.
To this end, Hangzhou Cigarette Factory learns from the experience of advanced foreign companies in warehouse management, and uses radio frequency identification (RFID) technology to build a completely digital warehouse for cigarette distribution. Its core part is the reader (XCRF-500D type) system and XCTF-5013 type electronic label.
two.System composition and working principle
The XCRF-500D reader/writer has been widely used in the stack-by-stack delivery and arrival scanning system of Hangzhou Tobacco Factory. The system is mainly composed of five parts: XCRF-500D reader (hereinafter referred to as 500D or reader), signal indicator, signal light power board (hereinafter referred to as power board), XCAF-12D antenna ( Hereinafter can be referred to as: antenna) and computer, network switch or hub (computer and network connection equipment provided by the user or system integrator).
1. System composition block diagram
Figure 1 System composition block diagram
2. System diagram
Figure 2 Schematic diagram of system composition
3. Working principle
XCRF-500D reader adopts microwave reflection modulation technology to realize long-distance, non-contact identification and extract data information in electronic tags. The data collection system is composed of XCRF-500D reader and electronic tags. The communication between the reader and the electronic tag is a two-way communication method, and the electronic tag will respond accordingly according to the command issued by the reader.
4. Application
This system is mainly used in the identification of incoming and outgoing palletizing information of tobacco factories and tobacco companies.
The Hangzhou Cigarette Factory’s stack-based outbound and arrival scanning system is a decision-making management system for the industry’s cigarette production and operation. For companies that use stacks as a unit to leave/receive, perform factory scans and commercial arrival scans. Special case program.
The system design uses RFID technology to identify stacks of cigarettes, store cigarette barcode information in stacks of cigarettes, and use RFID’s readable and writable function to realize factory scanning by stacks and commercial enterprises with stacks as units. Commercial arrival scanning.
three.Install
The reader and the power board are integrated and assembled in a rainproof box, and the signal indicator is assembled on the rainproof box to form a whole, which is installed on the wall next to the import and export platform; the antenna is installed in the middle of the import and export platform In the trough. The 500D is connected to the computer by a network interface, and is connected to the corporate network through a network switch or hub. The connection method between the reader and the antenna through the underground pipeline through the radio frequency cable is shown in Figure 3.
Figure 3 Schematic diagram of equipment installation and connection
1. Installation of rainproof box: On the wall next to the inbound and outbound platform, at a distance >500mm from the ground, punch 4 holes with a diameter of φ6 and install expansion screws according to the installation holes on the back of the rainproof box. Hang up and tighten the assembled rainproof box.
2. Antenna installation: In the middle of the import and export platform, open a (depth × width × length: 500 × 400 × 460) mm ground trough, along the length of the trough (35 × 400 × 70) mm, in The ground trough is covered with (600×400×35) mm thick glue board or thick glass.
Note: The front of the bakelite board should be flush with the ground and be combined naturally. A steel pipe or PVC pipe with a diameter of 50mm (the thinnest not less than 45mm) is buried between the antenna and the rain box for the purpose of passing the radio frequency cable.
Note: The bend of the steel pipe should be bent naturally, and the bending radian should not be less than 70°. The radio frequency cable should also be naturally coiled in the rainproof box, and the connector should be positively connected.
3. Network connection and software installation and debugging: 500D is connected to the serial port of the computer through a network cable, and the computer controls the reading and writing of 500D.
XCRF-500D series readers can start working after connecting the antenna, network cable and power cord. XCRF-500D series readers are in the default state, and the system is in standby state after booting. In the initialization and standby state, the reader does not transmit power (the radio frequency power amplifier is in the off state), only the antenna or load is connected and the “open port”, “power amplifier”, “read/write” sent by the PC are received After the label” command, the reader power amplifier enters the working state.
Install our DEMO software on the computer, copy the XCRF-500WDEMO folder to a certain directory, double-click to run the XCRF-500WDEMO (version 1.2) “” icon file, and then run the DEMO software to perform I/ O interface control, parameter setting, parameter query, communication mode selection, radio frequency tag reading, ID number scanning and display and other demonstration functions. The application software developed by the integrator can also be installed for control.
Figure 4 XCRF-500WDemo V1.2 main interface
Four.Main equipment details
five.Detailed description of the wiring between the reader and the signal lamp
1. Schematic diagram of input and output control ports on the back panel of 500D
2. Wiring comparison table in actual application
3. The relationship table between the status of the relay and the working status of the signal indicator
Six. System implementation process
From May to July 2005, the management system for the in and out of cigarette finished products was implemented on-site, and 6 sets of 500D readers were installed in the Shiqiao Warehouse of Hangzhou Cigarette Factory
In August 2005, the system was in experimental operation
In August 2005, the system passed the project acceptance of Hangzhou Cigarette Factory and Zhejiang China Tobacco Company
In September 2005, the management system of finished cigarettes in and out of the warehouse and the arrival scanning system of commercial companies were officially put into operation.
In November 2005, the province’s commercial company’s arrival scanning system promotion project started
From November 2005 to February 2006, the province’s commercial companies’ arrival scanning system has been installed in 17 tobacco companies, and a total of 18 sets of 500D reader devices have been installed: Huzhou, Shaoxing, Ningbo, Yiwu, Jinhua, Linhai , Wenling, Huangyan, Jiande, Shengzhou, Wenzhou, Qingtian, Quzhou, Lishui, Longquan, Zhoushan, Suichang
In December 2005, the installation and commissioning of 3 sets of 500D reader/writer equipment for the first phase of the Ningbo Cigarette Factory project was completed
In March 2006, it was planned to complete the installation and commissioning of 7 sets of 500D reader/writer equipment for the second phase of Ningbo Cigarette Factory
seven. Operation effect (user evaluation)
Since the project was put into operation, the system has been operating stably. Judging from the effect of system operation for a period of time, the system can achieve the following main functions more prominently:
1) Realize the first-in, first-out management of goods: After the digital warehouse is built, advanced technologies such as RFID, wireless local area network, database, etc. can be used to realize the management of cigarette trays. For each batch of goods in the warehouse, the storage time, storage location and other information are automatically recorded by the system. When the goods are out of the warehouse, the first-in first-out management of the goods can be realized on this basis.
2) Real-time management of warehouse inventory. Since the digital warehouse project was completed and put into operation, managers and relevant departments can accurately grasp the inventory of the cigarette distribution center warehouse in real time. The real-time management of warehouse inventory provides a scientific basis for company leaders and related departments to make business decisions. At the same time, relevant departments such as the telephone ordering center can grasp the status of each cigarette brand and quantity in the warehouse in real time to ensure that daily customer orders and the company’s operations are carried out smoothly. At present, with the cooperation of the company’s cigarette sales network construction and the construction of other projects, the company’s cigarette business can complete a sales cycle (delivery plan -> telephone order -> settlement -> sorting -> delivery) in one day.
3) Material tracking and graphic management: On the basis of realizing cigarette pallet position management, the system can also realize the functions of material tracking and graphic management. This function allows the stock materials to be reflected very intuitively and quickly in a graphical manner, which greatly improves the storage efficiency and precision of cigarette item management.
4) Optimize business processes and improve work efficiency: After the completion of the digital warehouse project, combined with computer technology and pallet management, the business process of the cigarette distribution center has been optimized to a large extent. When entering the warehouse, the goods are directly stacked on the pallets after being scanned on the conveyor belt, and the pallets are automatically sent to the corresponding floors by the elevator under the control of the system, and finally the pallets are sent to the storage space allocated by the system by the forklift. When leaving the warehouse, the forklift will send the target pallets to the hoist according to the system’s instructions and the principle of first in, first out, and then to the sorting center for sorting. Through the effective management and use of the pallets, the number of cigarette cargo handling and damage are reduced. Probability, improve operation efficiency.
Specifically: Before the implementation of the digital warehouse project, it would take about 3-3.5 hours to complete the first shipment of 4,000 cigarettes. After the project was completed, this time was reduced to about 2 hours. The time for the second replenishment out of the warehouse has also been shortened from the original 2-2.5 hours to about 1 hour. The construction of a digital warehouse not only realizes the faster finding of the required goods, but also reduces the occurrence of out-of-sales in the variety of commodity supplies, maintains accurate and appropriate inventory, eliminates human operation errors, shortens the supply and sales planning time, and reduces inventory occupation Funds and lower freight costs enable retailers to meet their sales in a timely manner.
In the process of building a digital warehouse, Hangzhou Cigarette Factory made full use of existing resources and relied on mature technologies such as existing networks, wireless data communications, RFID technology, network technology, and modern logistics information software to effectively improve the company’s overall operating level. A comprehensive logistics information management system that integrates logistics, information flow and value flow is realized, accurate control of inventory, full use of existing resources, and modern logistics information software technology to enable the entire warehousing system to achieve positioning management and optimization, and finally It improves the level of network construction work and provides reference cases for tobacco companies to achieve the goals of digital commerce.
Eight.Application outlook
What RFID brings is a new business model, not just a new technology. This will inevitably bring changes to the current operation and management mode of the tobacco logistics field.
Although the current RFID technology still has technical and cost problems, which affect its wide application in the national economy, with the continuous improvement of this technology and the reduction of cost, RFID will rely on its convenient reading and writing, high efficiency, and information load. It has many advantages such as large quantity, not easy to lose, and wide adaptability to meet the needs of the tobacco logistics field, and demonstrate its great value under the continuous changes in the tobacco logistics field.
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