Beaver Street Fisheries Automates RFID Tagging
The frozen seafood supplier encounters a sea of change as it moves from slap-and-ship tagging to an automated process on the assembly line.
By Elizabeth Wasserman
Mar. 12, 2007—More than two years ago, Beaver Street Fisheries, a Jacksonville, Fla., frozen seafood dealer, met its mandate to RFID-tag shipments bound for Wal-Mart Stores ahead of schedule by implementing a slap-and-ship tagging process. Now the company has ramped up production of RFID-tagged seafood by automating the EPC coding and application of tags on several of its assembly lines.
Founded in 1950 as a family-owned fish store, Beaver Street is currently one of the nation's top seafood suppliers. As a result of automation, the company has quadrupled the volume of RFID-tagged products—snow crab blusters, breaded shrimp, catfish nuggets and tilapia—that it ships to Wal-Mart each month, from 5,000 cases in 2004 to its present level of 20,000 cases. The firm also tags 5,000 cases per month for another client piloting RFID technology, which Beaver Street declines to identify.
The automation of RFID tagging has cut down on labor costs associated with the manual slap-and-ship tagging process. Company officials say Beaver Street is now closer to realizing its goal of using RFID to gain business process efficiencies and other cost savings.
Mar. 12, 2007—More than two years ago, Beaver Street Fisheries, a Jacksonville, Fla., frozen seafood dealer, met its mandate to RFID-tag shipments bound for Wal-Mart Stores ahead of schedule by implementing a slap-and-ship tagging process. Now the company has ramped up production of RFID-tagged seafood by automating the EPC coding and application of tags on several of its assembly lines.
Founded in 1950 as a family-owned fish store, Beaver Street is currently one of the nation's top seafood suppliers. As a result of automation, the company has quadrupled the volume of RFID-tagged products—snow crab blusters, breaded shrimp, catfish nuggets and tilapia—that it ships to Wal-Mart each month, from 5,000 cases in 2004 to its present level of 20,000 cases. The firm also tags 5,000 cases per month for another client piloting RFID technology, which Beaver Street declines to identify.
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The automation of RFID tagging has cut down on labor costs associated with the manual slap-and-ship tagging process. Company officials say Beaver Street is now closer to realizing its goal of using RFID to gain business process efficiencies and other cost savings.
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