4 Companies Using RFID for Supply Chain Management
Introduction
Supply Chain Management is the management of the flow of goods and services, including the movement and storage of raw materials, work-in-progress inventory, and finished goods from point of origin to point of consumption. Since the process can be very extensive, companies are always in search of a way to manage all aspects of it and in return reduce loss and shrinkage among other things.
Currently, companies all over the world are using RFID technology for Supply Chain Management. While some companies only use RFID in certain aspects, other companies use RFID systems throughout the entire supply chain process enabling them visibility from start to finish. Below are a few companies that are successfully using, or are about to implement RFID in the supply chain management process.
1. Amazon
Still in the early stages, Amazon has taken the bull by the horns and recruited Auburn University’s RFID Lab and the students currently studying at it to help them design, integrate, and deploy RFID technology within the facilities. They are hoping to have the students and teachers focus primarily on Amazon’s Prime Now delivery site – in Atlanta as well as their new automated fulfillment centers in Dallas and New Jersey.
Read more about Amazon & Auburn’s collaboration
2. BJC HealthCare
Even if RFID is only used at one step of the supply chain, it can still have a significant effect on each aspect of it. By using RFID inventory management techniques like smart cabinets, hospitals like BJC can have full visibility into their inventory and know exactly how many to order and when. BJC states that they reduced the amount of stock on hand by 23%, which means buying less equipment that then in turn just sat on shelves because of miss-counts.
Learn about what items this hospital tracks.
3. Inditex
RFID in retail is not a new concept, and hundreds of retailers across the world use it daily. What Inditex is doing with RFID isn’t focused on retail item tracking, but instead on the supply chain management from store to store. Stores under the Inditex brand like Zara, Pull & Bear, and Massimo Dutti started rolling out RFID in its stores in July of 2014. Because millions of items ship between stores and to stores from warehouses, they are using this technology to give their logistic centers' visibility through the shipping process. This way, they are hoping to reduce mistakes currently being made in shipping, packing, and customer service.
Learn more about what Inditex hopes to gain from using RFID
4. General Steel
General Steel is implementing RFID technology into its logistic management system. Since logistics is a large part of the process for a huge corporation like General Steel, they hope to have RFID tags into their steel logistic centers done soon in order to gain real-time visibility. General Steel’s goal is to “enable efficient, accurate, and automated inventory tracking, intelligent stocking, and electronic signing and notifications" throughout its nation-wide centers.
See what else General Steel has to say about the project.
Conclusion
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[1] Wikipedia: Supply Chain Management. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supply_chain_manage...