H&M Bay Cools Its Freight With RFID

When a shipment arrives, the warehouse staff logs its receipt data on a PC in the warehouse. The employee then prints two passive UHF Gen 2 RFID tags, both encoded with an identical ID number using Franwell software in conjunction with a Datamax H Class DMX-1-4210 printer-encoder. One tag is applied to the front of the pallet so that a forklift interrogator can read it, and the other is applied to the top of pallet, so that it can be read by a portal interrogator. The Franwell software then passes the tag's ID number to H&M's back-end system, where that ID number is linked to the shipment receipt data, as well as the time and date. The pallets are then transported to a staging area.

Tagged cold-storage pallets are picked up from the staging area by one of three forklift trucks equipped with a Motorola RD 5000 reader, to be taken into cold storage. The truck's interrogator captures the pallet tag's ID number, then transmits that information to the forklift's VC 5090 onboard computer, which sends it along to the company's back-end operating system via a Wi-Fi connection.

Each of about 1,600 rack locations in cold storage is marked with an RFID tag.

There are two portal RFID readers at the refrigeration unit doorway, as well as one at the freezer, all of which capture each pallet's tag ID number once more, then forward that data to Franwell's AssetTracker software service via a cabled connection. The software service determines which pallets enter or exit cold storage, then transmits the movement data to H&M Bay's operations system. Each of approximately 1,600 rack locations in cold storage is marked with an RFID tag, so that when the forklift driver places the pallet onto the rack, the reader captures the rack tag's ID number and the system maintains a record of the pallet's exact storage location.

When a pallet is removed from a rack, its tag is again interrogated by the forklift's RD 5000 reader, followed by the portal readers. The system can then determine that the product has been removed from cold storage prior to being loaded onto a truck.

Deployment of the system began in March 2008, Crawford says, and was completed in August after the system was tweaked for better read rates and the hardware was adjusted. According to Walker, the system allows the freight to be unloaded earlier than was previously possible, and to be held in storage until a truck could transport it to the retailer. It also enables the company to provide data to shippers indicating how long the freight remained in and outside of cold storage.

H&M Bay hopes to install the technology at its facilities in North Carolina, Massachusetts, Washington and Florida. At present, however, no dates have yet been set for such deployments.