Peg Pérego USA Tags Toys

An RFID reader installed at the end of the loading conveyor will read each item's tag, matching it with the customer order in Pérego's SAP system. According to Matt Foreman, Northern Apex-RFID's sales and development business manager, the company is engineering the RFID system to stop the loading conveyor if a box is discovered heading onto the truck without a tag, or if the wrong number of items are being loaded. "This ensures accurate loading and prevents human error at the critical shipment point," he explains.

Northern Apex is still considering six possible tag manufacturers to supply the EPC Gen 2 915 MHz labels, Foreman says, adding that reader manufacturers have not yet been determined either. "Our goal is to put the right reader and right tag that gets the level of read rates very, very high," Foreman says. "It has to be close to perfect."

To integrate the RFID system with Peg Pérego's existing SAP software system, Northern Apex will provide Peg Pérego with its Galaxy software suite. This suite includes RFID automation device-control software and a graphical user interface.

"We're going to begin by setting the system up on one assembly line, and then roll it out on the rest of the assembly lines," Maxwell says. "Right now, we're looking at [tagging] finished goods." That will change, however, he predicts.

Components from the parent company arrive at the Fort Wayne facility in kits, each of which includes parts for one riding toy. If the box containing the entire kit were tagged, Maxwell says, the company could track when the components arrived and when they were assembled onto a toy. Peg Pérego USA is in discussion with its Italian parent, Peg Pérego, to have components tagged in Milan. Eventually, Maxwell states, the U.S. company would like its other suppliers to tag individual components.