Application of RFID system in food supply chain management
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The RFID system can track product supply in a complex multi-step supply network. It is an ideal and efficient supply chain management solution, which has benefited many industries. This article discusses the benefits of RFID solutions for users in simplifying food supply logistics management, ranging from livestock and fresh crops on farms to food eaten in restaurants and packaged food purchased in supermarkets.
RFID solutions can ensure high-quality data exchange in any supply chain, allowing the food industry to achieve the two most important goals. First, thoroughly implement the “source” food tracking solution. Second, provide complete transparency in the food supply chain. ability.
Farm health and safety
A large number of food safety issues that have emerged in recent years are mainly concentrated on meat and meat products. The RFID system can provide a reliable connection between the meat products in the food chain and the source animals, ensuring that the source history of the meat products arriving on supermarket shelves and restaurant kitchens is clear, and can be traced to specific animal individuals and farms. Animal source identification solutions, such as Texas Instruments’ RFID tags, have been used to identify tens of millions of animal husbandry. The types of tags include: ear tags or direct tags implanted in animals. Farm managers can automatically operate workflows including feeding, weighing, disease management, and breeding.
When an animal is suitable for slaughter, this information is stored together with the data of the slaughterhouse where the animal was slaughtered in the label of the supermarket selling the animal’s meat. RFID solutions ensure a high standard of origin of goods by providing an important link between food and its origin. Food content or source history, as well as distribution data, can be tracked through various food manufacturing stages, and can be accurately monitored through the distribution chain of the restaurant supply network, or the supermarket where household consumers buy food. RFID is a solution for 100% tracking of the source of food, so it can answer users’ questions about “where does the food come from, and whether the intermediate processing link is complete” and other questions, and give detailed and reliable answers.
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RFID solutions can provide rich and accurate information about the performance of the supply chain, including transfer points, inventory conditions, and operating conditions. Managers can quickly identify and correct low-efficiency operations. Therefore, they can focus on resource development from financial, operational efficiency, and Food safety can provide solutions with the best return, so as to achieve rapid supply and minimize storage costs. This is particularly important for meat products that require high-cost frozen storage during the distribution process.
Ensuring the speed of supply in the fast food industry
An efficient supply chain management (SCM) system must be fast and accurate, and users only need to receive basic training. For the busy fast food industry, because a large number of food supplies require the use of easy-to-use automation solutions, the requirements for an efficient supply chain system are even more so. The fast food industry is extremely demanding on logistics management due to the highly stressful working environment and the need to strictly control costs. The inherent powerful management functions of the RFID solution can just meet the requirements of the fast food industry.
The McDonald’s fast food restaurant introduced the FreedomPay system, which uses TI’s RFID technology, to use the FreedomPay wireless network payment system in 29 restaurants in Boise, Idaho. Consumers can sign in the store like an online phone, and use FreedomPay accounts to spend cashlessly and get rewards immediately. This cashless consumption feature allows McDonald’s fast food restaurants to reward loyal consumers. Consumers can use FreedomPay and get rewards at all restaurants in Boise that use the system. At the same time, the cashless consumption system has the ability to improve fast and effective customer service in restaurants and fast lanes.
All food supplied to the central distribution center (CDC) of the restaurant’s supply chain is affixed with RFID tags when it leaves the production line. When the food arrives at the central distribution center, the pallet passes through a door reader to read the label content on all the boxes on the pallet, even the label content stacked on the bottom of the pallet can be read. The system checks this information with the shipping record to detect possible errors, and then updates the RFID tag to the latest food storage location and status. This ensures precise inventory control, and even knows exactly how many containers are currently in transit, the origin and destination of the transshipment, and the expected arrival time.
In order to meet the ordering requirements of each restaurant, the necessary foods need to be selected from the central distribution center and placed on pallets for delivery. In the central distribution center, food is stacked on pallets for temporary storage before being sent to the restaurant’s supply chain terminal. Placing many different types of food on the same tray is a potential problem for the existing system, which requires a lot of manual processing. With the help of the RFID system, since there is no need to arrange the boxes for easy reading or individually cancel a certain box from the central database of the central distribution center, the pallets can be filled quickly according to restaurant orders. When all foods are loaded on the pallet, all foods can be checked at the same time before shipment.
When the food arrives at the restaurant, another door reader confirms the received tagged goods, and updates the location of the corresponding box in the tracking system and on the RFID tag. The system also cross-checks whether the content of the goods is consistent with the original order to ensure the supply of suitable goods and accurate quantities. When the restaurant kitchen needs to replenish the supply, the food is transferred from the storage location to the temporary storage of the kitchen, and the information that the food has successfully reached the destination is recorded through another door, and the food is cancelled from the system.
Throughout the supply chain, information for tracking food and updating labels is used to monitor the distribution network and automatically record the amount of food sent and stored. This ensures timely delivery and brings commercial benefits such as reduced inventory and streamlined logistics processes. Inventory levels, including goods in transit, can be clearly learned from the entire supply chain from central to local. Suppliers can learn the actual consumption level of the restaurant’s goods, so they can quickly respond to changes in food demand.
Benefits
RFID identifies each product, box and pallet. Smart tags provide operators with the ability to clearly understand the distribution chain, so as to identify each and every product, check the status and source history of the product, and send the product to the supply and marketing network. Anywhere. What’s important is that the system enables the normally “passive” goods in the supply chain to also “inform” the logistics network about the demand status, source, name of the goods, arrival destination, arrival time and other information, and through every reader When, provide the above information truthfully.
RFID solutions can provide efficient and detailed control of each item in a potentially huge supply chain network, and create a series of reliable product information in the entire food supply chain from farm to consumer refrigerator. In each production stage and the process of distribution to the final consumption field, RFID solutions provide reasonable decision-making tools for the safety of each item, the source of food ingredients and inventory control.
Just like the digital nervous system proposed by Bill Gates, various logistics systems and manufacturing systems are undoubtedly gradually becoming digital. RFID technology, as the nerve terminal of the digital nervous system, will play an increasingly important role. Not only will it promote the development of the entire information industry, but it will also greatly enrich the forms of material exchange, information and information exchange in various industries and fields, and promote the progress of human history.
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