Get ready for RFID (page 2)

-- Logistics Management, 8/1/2005

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Print-and-Apply Equipment

As demand for RFID grows, warehouses may need to automate the tagging operation. That's the case with Conair, which will soon tag shipments for Target, whose requirements differ from Wal-Mart's. "We will be going from a label on a pallet to a label on every carton," says Albence.

When tagging volumes increase exponentially, a major overhaul of a warehouse's labeling system may be in order. An automated print-and-apply system on a conveyor line can be a good solution for some shippers. The speed at which such systems operate and the volume of cartons they handle depends on many factors. For example, a print-and-apply system offered by Weber Marking Systems can apply smart labels at speeds from 20 to 40 cartons per minute, but throughput is dependent on conveyor speed, product size, label length, read/write/verify cycle times, and other factors, says Ann Marie Phaneuf, director of marketing.

To get the greatest efficiency out of an automated print-and-apply system, it's imperative that blank labels be of "certified" quality and be compatible with the RFID printer/encoder. Otherwise bad tags could slow down the whole operation, Phaneuf says.

Beyond Tagging

If you're receiving RFID-tagged items, you'll need to make some changes to accommodate them—but perhaps not as many as you might think. According to Gallagher, there were no layout changes at Wal-Mart's DCs, but materials handling equipment was revamped to enable RFID and readers to be installed on selected dock doors and conveyor systems.

Other users, though, may have to change their floor layouts. The combination of readers and antennae creates "portals" adjacent to dock doors through which lift trucks travel and data is captured. Some portals do not allow the staging of freight within 20 to 30 feet of the antennae because bounces and reflections of the RF signal could cause the system to read loads that are outside the intended read area. One way to alleviate this problem is to install a grounded mesh RF barrier, which creates a tunnel that restricts RF signals to a specific area.

It's a good idea to have your RFID equipment vendor or consultant do a site survey to determine the best configuration of readers and antennae for optimum read rates. For maximum readability in a busy operation, make sure readers conform to the latest standards. "Our readers are multi-protocol and upgradeable to the newly ratified Gen 2 standards for a dense reader environment," confirms Gallagher.

Figures 1 and 2 on Pages 85 and 86 illustrate sample shipping and receiving processes for an RFID-enabled warehouse. Productivity is improved as capturing data becomes a simple matter of passing pallets and cartons through RFID readers and portals, with little or no human intervention. Manual line-of-sight scanning with bar codes is eliminated.

It must be emphasized that RFID does not make bar codes obsolete. In circumstances where tags don't work, moreover, redundant systems can pay off, as "old-fashioned" scanning is still the most dependable backup method.

Plan for the Future

Although RFID technology has been around for decades, its application in the distribution environment is still in its infancy. By all accounts, full RFID integration has yet to be fully achieved—even at Wal-Mart. "Until we get a critical mass of tagged merchandise flowing through our DCs, then we will not have full integration," Gallagher observes. But the retail giant is getting its DCs ready for that day.

Meanwhile, most shippers that have already adopted RFID are taking the "slap and ship" approach. That may fulfill short-term obligations, but to make the tags pay for themselves, shippers should plan for a totally integrated solution, not just in the warehouse but also throughout the supply chain.

Some companies already are moving in that direction. They recognize that the real savings come when RFID tagging is eliminated from the warehouse and the carton is tagged at the point of manufacture. "Many of our suppliers are working with their packaging suppliers to have the tag fixed or embedded prior to them receiving the packaging," notes Gallagher. That scenario, however, may be a long way off. Many products are manufactured abroad, and it will take time to implement such packaging innovations globally.

For now, many shippers have adopted a wait-and-see attitude rather than take the full plunge into RFID. But demand for the technology is spreading fast, and it's not too early for all warehouse managers to give some thought to how they could implement it in their own warehouses and DCs.

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