Global Logistics Provider Deploys Battery-Assisted RFID Systems

While securely stored in the distribution center, the alcoholic beverages are not subject to government duties. When they leave the DC for delivery to the retailer, however, taxes must be paid. The logistics provider had previously used bar codes to identify pallets and bins, but that meant an accurate tax inventory needed to be taken manually and could be carried out only once per quarter.

According to PowerID, the French authorities requested more frequent notice of which goods were moved out of the DC. This led the logistics company to look into the potential of using RFID to automate the process. Inventory is now taken weekly, resulting in the retailer paying taxes on the beverages once weekly, according to an actual (rather than estimated) inventory count. For this application, government requirements made it necessary to have a 100 percent read rate for the system. This was achieved through the configuration of the RFID tags and reader in combination with software NBG specially designed to manage the system.

The tags are read once more at the receiving dock of the retailer's store.

For the second RFID project, the logistics provider tags pallets assembled at the DC prior to shipment to the retail stores. The pallets can contain a mix of grocery products, including those containing metals, liquids and metallic foil. Therefore, the pallet loads can have unpredictable effects on the RFID signals, prompting NBG to use PowerID tags after tests with passive UHF tags failed to deliver the minimum 99.5 percent read rate required by the retailer the RFID system to be a viable and more efficient alternative to the bar-code system it was using at that time.

The pallet RFID tags are read at reader gates at the dock door of the distribution center, and again at the receiving dock of the retailer's store. So far, 10 portals at two DCs have been deployed to track goods shipped to two retail stores. Each reader gate has an RFID interrogator fitted with four specially tuned antennas. According to PowerID, the installed system is recording read rates of 99.97 percent.

While the PowerID labels have delivered the required read rates, NBG says the tags cost approximately 20 percent more than passive UHF labels. Consequently, the logistics provider reuses the labels deployed on pallets by putting them in plastic sleeves attached to pallets. This allows operators to remove the RFID labels and return them once the delivery has been made.