The hottest RFID changes the supply chain mode

RFID changes the supply chain mode

RFID is a revolutionary breakthrough for ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) and SCM (Supply Chain Management) systems. Precise management extends its tentacles to every part of every link. Retail, storage, transportation, distribution, production and other aspects of management will face unimaginable convenience in the past

Wal Mart is the largest business empire in the world, and metro is the most important retailer in Europe. Now, they all pay attention to RFID technology and become the driving engine of the global RFID revolution. At the historical juncture of adopting new technologies, most people are always not enthusiastic and often show puzzling inertia. The development of bar code UPC is one of the best examples. Now, RFID is becoming a deeper and broader new technological revolution after bar code

rfid drives the retail revolution

with the emergence of radio frequency identification (RFID), the status of existing commodity bar codes has been challenged, and the retail supply chain management is facing a new revolution. According to the calculation of A.T. Kearney, who needs to browse the configuration in detail, from the data, the benefits of retailers' adoption of RFID come from three aspects: reducing the inventory level by about 5%; Reduce the labor cost in stores and warehouses by about 7.5% every year; Improve turnover, reduce stock shortages, and increase turnover by $700000 per $1billion of annual sales

although RFID can bring many benefits to the retail industry, due to the high cost of tags and the lack of support from the whole industry, RFID still develops very slowly and is not widely adopted

this situation changed in July 2003. Wal Mart requires its top 100 suppliers to use RFID tags in their commodity containers and pallets by 2005. They plan to add RFID tags to all goods, even small things such as toothpicks, to improve logistics efficiency. So we will see the following scene:

Mike walks into Wal Mart supermarket and pushes shopping carts in front of rows of shelves to choose. He went to the freezer, picked up a can of a-brand ice cream and walked on leisurely, but suddenly noticed that the package of b-brand ice cream was marked with "low calorie". So Mike quickly compared the calorimeter of the two kinds of ice cream, put back the a-brand ice cream and threw the b-brand ice cream into the car. Within half a minute, the host read the information of a brand ice cream leaving and returning through RFID tags and sent it back to the headquarters of a company, which is worth a good study by marketing personnel

mike walked out of the supermarket door with a load of things, and no one stopped him. Because when passing the cashier system at the door, the membership card on Mike's shopping cart reported his identity, and the RFID reader instantly identified the quantity and price of all commodities, the bank transfer system accordingly transferred the corresponding amount from Mike's account

in the past, supermarkets used bar codes to speed up charging. When consumers paid at the cashier, the magnetic stripe on the goods became useless. But unlike the magnetic stripe, RFID tags can continue to be recognized beyond the line of sight. For businesses, information about consumption habits is the most precious, so after the goods reach the hands of consumers, are businesses willing to let RFID tags expire immediately

if the RFID tag does not fail, businesses and banks can work together to draw Mike's shopping roadmap: at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Mike bought a pair of X-brand jeans in the mall; At 2:15, he walked into the bookstore, and the RFID reader at the door recognized the jeans he was carrying; At 3 o'clock, Mike left the bookstore. The reader at the door read the information of pants again, and recognized a magazine named "time"; At 3:30, Mike entered the convenience store. 10 minutes later, the convenience store reader recognized pants, magazines, and a bag of potato chips...

Jack, all the shopping amounts were paid by bank card or store membership card, so a corresponding relationship was established between the card account and these goods, which could summarize the single conclusion that "Mike likes low calorie food", Or make a group consumption conclusion similar to "men who buy diapers also like to buy potato chips"

according to the retail analyst of Sanford C. Bernstein, Wal Mart can save us $8.35 billion annually by using RF Southwest Aluminum Company, which has supplied nearly 1000 tons of ID to the aviation industry, most of which is the labor cost saved because it does not need to manually check the barcode of incoming goods. There is no doubt that RFID can help solve the two biggest problems in the retail industry: the shortage and loss of goods (products lost due to theft and the disruption of the supply chain)

rfid drives the revolution of logistics supply chain

because the storage capacity of RFID tags is more than the 96th power of 2, the logistics industry found for the first time that they can represent all goods in the world with unique codes. In the past, when bar codes were used, due to the limitation of length, the logistics industry can only define a category code for each category of products, that is, a batch of milk, regardless of the shelf life, has the same code in the mall, and the mall cannot judge the accurate inventory cycle of each product through the code. RFID has completely abandoned this restriction, and now all products can enjoy a unique ID

this is a revolutionary breakthrough for ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) and SCM (Supply Chain Management) systems. In the past, the material number could not track a single part. Today, the precise management of materials extends to every part of every link. Whether it is quality control, automation management, or product life cycle management, it will face unimaginable convenience in the past. For example, the analysis of the defective rate of products can locate the source of defective products at a certain point, and a product in the warehouse will not be placed alone for too long because of the excessive number of products of the same type

in supply chain management, no matter which link applies RFID, it can provide higher technical support and obtain better management effect. Some experts believe that in order to improve the efficiency of logistics supply chain management, it is necessary to make the members of the supply chain timely obtain the operation information of other members and business links, and the lack of information sharing will lead to the rupture and low efficiency of the supply chain. Advanced RF technology information can enhance the automation of these links. This will improve the automation of business operation, greatly reduce the error rate, and improve the transparency and management efficiency of the supply chain

the specific application value of RFID in the logistics industry is mainly reflected in the following links:

first, retail. RFID can improve the inventory management of retailers, realize timely replenishment, effectively track transportation and inventory, improve efficiency and reduce errors. At the same time, smart tags can monitor and re list the validity period of some time-lapse commodities marked by A.B.C mounds: stores can also use RFID system to realize automatic scanning and billing at the checkout counter, so as to replace manual collection

second, storage link. In the warehouse, the most widely used radio frequency technology is to access goods and inventory counting. It can be used to realize automatic inventory and pick-up operations. In the whole warehouse management, combining the receiving plan, picking up plan and shipping plan formulated by the supply chain planning system with RFID technology can efficiently complete various business operations, such as designated stacking areas, shelves picking up and replenishment. Another advantage of RFID technology is to reduce manpower during inventory counting. RFID is designed to automate the registration of goods. There is no need to manually check or scan the barcode during inventory, which is faster and more accurate, and reduces losses

III. transportation. The goods and vehicles transported in transit are labeled with RFID tags, and RFID receiving and forwarding devices are installed on some inspection points of the transportation line. After receiving the RFID tag information, the receiving device uploads it to the communication satellite together with the location information of the receiving place, and then the satellite transmits it to the transportation scheduling center and sends it to the database

IV. distribution/distribution. In the distribution link, the use of RF technology can greatly speed up the distribution speed, improve the efficiency and accuracy of the picking and distribution process, reduce labor and reduce the distribution cost. If all goods arriving at the central distribution center are labeled with RFID tags, when entering the central distribution center, the pallet will read the tag contents on all containers on the pallet through a reader. The system checks this information with the delivery record to detect possible errors, and then updates the RFID tag to the latest storage location and status of the goods

v. production links. Applying RFID technology in the manufacturing process can complete the operation of automatic production line, realize the identification and tracking of raw materials, parts, semi-finished products and finished products in the whole production line, reduce the cost and error rate of manual identification, and improve efficiency and efficiency. Especially in the assembly line with JIT (just in time) production mode, raw materials and parts must be delivered to the station on time. After adopting RFID technology, we can quickly and accurately find the raw materials and parts required by the station from the inventory of a wide variety of products by identifying electronic tags. RFID technology can also help managers send replenishment information in time according to the production progress, realize the balanced and stable production of the assembly line, and strengthen the quality control and tracking

RFID in China

although the application of RFID in China's logistics field has just started, it has also taken many forms. According to Mr. Wang Zhongshu, Deputy Secretary General of the EPC and logistics joint application Standardization Working Committee of the China Association for standardization, the application of RFID in enterprises is mainly reflected in the following aspects: first, in the enterprise, for example, placing RF tags on the pallets of automated three-dimensional warehouses can significantly improve the refinement of management. Haier and Baisha Group have such cases; Second, it is used in a supply chain. For example, Hong Kong Yimei Sportan filter group used RF tags in the cotton procurement process in Xinjiang, reducing management costs, improving product quality, and improving the scheduling level of inventory; Third, it is applied in a wide range of networks. A typical case is the vehicle management and scheduling system of the Ministry of railways

at present, the main problems in the application of RFID in China lie in three aspects: demand, cost and standard. In terms of cost, the cost of labels has been significantly reduced, and will continue to be reduced. In some high-value market segments, cost does not seem to be the main problem. Secondly, demand can also be cultivated

but it should be noted that the advantages of RFID are based on the information sharing mechanism. The longer the chain of information sharing, the more useful RFID will be. Behind the information sharing is the benefit sharing, that is, the supply chain mechanism. In response, Mr. Wang Zhongshu said, "cultivating the RFID market is a process of cultivating the supply chain, that is, the intensive process of China's industry."

in March this year, the international RFID tag data coding standard was approved, and the data transmission protocol between RFID tag and identifier will also be passed by the end of this year. In China, 14 ministries and commissions, including the Ministry of information industry, the science and Technology Commission and the National Standards Commission, are preparing to set up a national "working group on electronic label standardization" to begin the preparation《