RFID Is Making Gains Throughout The Supply Chain

We’re living in a time of great advancements in supply chain logistics. Keeping up to date with the latest technologies, such as RFID, is vital if you are to remain competitive in this fast-paced world, where accuracy, efficiency and traceability are the currency.

According to research from our partners at Zebra:

84% of decision makers agree that improving operational visibility leads to more automated decision-making, driving better utilisation of both staff and assets

82% agree that better inventory management tools are critical for accuracy and availability

76% acknowledge they are under high pressure to adjust to shifting customer demand

Fortunately, help is at hand.

We’ve recently explored the benefits and evolution of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) and as the technology continues to develop, the gains in terms of productivity and efficiency, and ultimately financially, are becoming more and more evident.

In this blog we’ll talk you through the major benefits of RFID not just in the warehouse, but into the supply chain, helping you to understand how embracing this tech can transform your business and keep you leading the way.

What is RFID?

Imagine a time when, with one wave of a device, you could receive data on hundreds of items in your warehouse or distribution centre.

That time is now – and RFID is the tech that enables it. RFID is a wireless technology that uses radio waves to identify and track objects. It works by sending signals from a reader to a tag, which then transmits key data back to the reader.

What sets RFID apart is its unique ability to locate, authenticate and track tagged items quickly and more efficiently than other systems. RFID tags can be read without a line of sight, with a range of up to 20 metres.

Let’s take a look at the 10 key uses and benefits throughout the supply chain:

Inventory Visibility

Think about inventory counts. With RFID this could take minutes rather than hours.

RFID reduces the time spent walking around warehouses and DCs looking for barcodes to scan. The ability to process multiple item tags simultaneously, accurately and remotely will give you real-time visibility over stock levels and item locations, reducing errors and eliminating the need for manual counts.

Inbound Goods

When receiving goods, you need to make sure they’re recorded accurately. Until now this could be a laborious process, but you guessed it, RFID can take the manual processing out of the equation, with improved reliability and accuracy.

Not only does this help your bottom line, it also keeps your warehouse or DC running smoothly, preventing bottlenecks when receiving goods without compromising on that all-important data capture.

Product Storage and Retrieval

Integrating with your Warehouse Management System (WMS), RFID logs inbound goods, recording the exact location of the products within your site. This reduces the risk of items being stored incorrectly or lost and allows your team to put their hands on any item without delay. More efficient storage = faster picking!

Order Fulfilment

With enhanced picking capacity and efficiency, RFID will improve your order fulfilment capabilities, again ensuring accurate identification and recording of items for dispatch.

With fewer errors, you’ll have time in the long run and increase customer satisfaction, leading to happy clients, and most importantly, an industry-leading operation.

Integration with Existing Tech

If you’re bringing new tech into your business, you’ll want to make sure it can integrate with your existing kit, improving capabilities across the board.

Not only can RFID work with robotics and automated systems to identify and move items as necessary, it can also work with your hands-free tech to improve safety as well as accuracy.

Supply Chain Traceability

What else does RFID give you? Traceability, trackability, transparency.

Knowing exactly where products are on their journeys to and from customers and clients is imperative, and RFID again takes the guesswork and manual labour out of this element of supply chain logistics.

With a digital trail at every step of the product journey, you can rest assured that you have the answers at your fingertips should customers or clients raise questions.

Improved Forecasting and Stock Availability

As we mentioned earlier, integrating with your existing tech is a huge plus point for RFID, and one of the best examples comes with sales and demand planning.

RFID systems can help you to understand levels and demand with up-to-the-minute data, allowing you to accurately forecast and maintain optimum stock levels.

Quality Control

If the products you handle need to be stored in specific conditions, tag data in RFID systems can tell you the details. A simple scan can direct you to the optimum storage area by product or batch. Not only does this massively help with quality control, it also ensures compliance with safety standards for certain products.

Reduced Theft and Loss

Theft has always been an issue within supply chain logistics, but here’s where RFID brings extra benefits.

If tagged items are moved outside of authorised zones, alerts can be triggered through the RFID system to make you aware, helping you to keep goods on-site and in the right hands.

Compliance and Reporting

There’s nothing more labour-intensive than compliance checks and mandatory reporting. In the past these tasks would have taken up a lot of hours on a regular basis.

You’ve guessed it. RFID can bear the brunt of this work for you, logging storage and movement conditions for sensitive products and simplifying the audit process to comply with industry regulations.

What have you got to lose?

So there you have it. Across a range of important elements of the supply chain, RFID can reduce labour hours, improve accuracy, ensure compliance and optimise processes – all without the need for barcode scanning.

Integration with your existing systems will give you peace of mind that this technology is here to make your operation more efficient, keeping your clients and their customers happy with transparent and diligent stock handling.

Want to know more?

Renovotec and Zebra can provide you with the guidance you need to make RFID a reality in your organisation.

Contact us to get started.