More RFID Journal Sites: RFID Journal Espanol RFID Journal Brasil RFID Journal Events RFID Journal Awards
Retail NEWS
Text size:
T
T
T
RFID Raises Profits at Plant Nursery
The tray then passes down a production conveyor belt, where the seeds are planted in it. At this point, the tray's RFID inlay is scanned once more by a fixed Motorola reader, thereby indicating that a specific type of seed has been sown in that particular tray, which is recorded as being "in production."
During the growing process, each tray may be read multiple times. Staff members sometimes move the trays from one section of the greenhouse to the next, pushing them on rolling beds, which hold 42 trays at a time. These rolling beds pass through an RFID portal that captures all of the trays' ID numbers, then transmits the data to the back-end system, indicating which trays have been moved within the greenhouse.
Knox's staff also conducts numerous inventories using a Motorola handheld RFID reader with a Wi-Fi connection, thereby enabling the company to track which trays are being stored in which sections. Inventory counts previously required two full days of work from two workers, Claiborne says. "It's very difficult to get a human or bar-code scan of each one of the trays in a greenhouse of that size," he states, adding that because the trays are placed side by side in deep rows, it is often impossible for an employee to read or scan a label attached to the side of a tray. But now, using RFID handhelds, it takes one person two to three hours—and the counts, he adds, are more accurate.
When the seedlings have grown to a specified size, Knox ships them to its customers. For large orders, typically transported by truck, the operator utilizes a touch screen to select the order to be shipped. The screen then displays all products on the particular order, and as the seedlings are moved through a portal, its interrogator captures and confirms each tray's ID number. If an employee attempts to pack an incorrect tray, such as one intended for a different order, an audible alarm sounds, indicating the shipper needs to remove that tray. Once the order is completely packed, the worker then touches the screen, prompting the Grower's Own system to print a shipping list and send an advance shipping notice to the customer.
Smaller orders are usually shipped via Federal Express. In this case, the operator uses a touch screen cabled to the RFID interrogator to select the order and the box sizes. The touch screen displays the items needed to fill the order, and the reader captures each tray's ID number as it is packed in a box, and also updates the data on the screen. Again, an alarm sounds if the interrogator detects an incorrect tray. Once the order is filled, the operator presses the 'box filled' prompt. The software then accesses the Fed Ex Web site to generate a shipping label, which is printed, along with a packing list, and applied to the box.
The Grower's Own software system collects inventory data, thereby enabling the Knox nursery staff to know what inventory it has in the greenhouse—and how much of each item—as well as when trays were shipped. Employees can also use it to determine in which section of the greenhouse the tray is stored, but not where the tray is located within that particular section. For that reason, the nursery intends to expand the system with a method for tracking each tray's location within the greenhouse. BizSpeed is designing an RFID reader cart that could pass through the greenhouse and read all of the tags with a boom that passes above the rows. In that way, the nursery could take inventory in less time, and with greater detail regarding the location. BizSpeed and Knox hope to have the reader cart, now in the prototype stage, included in the Grower's Own package available to other customers, as well as for Knox Nursery, in approximately three months.
According to Claiborne, Knox has already recouped the costs of the hardware and software. The improved shipping accuracy has been the company's greatest benefit, he says. The system's ability to track inventory saves the firm man-hours previously spent searching for trays or conducting manual inventories, and also reduces the number of excess plants that are sown and then discarded due to a lack of visibility into greenhouse inventory. "I believe it's been paid for—it took about a year," he says, noting that the largest gains have come most recently, following full deployment, as the staff got used to the system.
more Retail articles
During the growing process, each tray may be read multiple times. Staff members sometimes move the trays from one section of the greenhouse to the next, pushing them on rolling beds, which hold 42 trays at a time. These rolling beds pass through an RFID portal that captures all of the trays' ID numbers, then transmits the data to the back-end system, indicating which trays have been moved within the greenhouse.
|
| Box Shipping Station for FedEx shipments |
Knox's staff also conducts numerous inventories using a Motorola handheld RFID reader with a Wi-Fi connection, thereby enabling the company to track which trays are being stored in which sections. Inventory counts previously required two full days of work from two workers, Claiborne says. "It's very difficult to get a human or bar-code scan of each one of the trays in a greenhouse of that size," he states, adding that because the trays are placed side by side in deep rows, it is often impossible for an employee to read or scan a label attached to the side of a tray. But now, using RFID handhelds, it takes one person two to three hours—and the counts, he adds, are more accurate.
When the seedlings have grown to a specified size, Knox ships them to its customers. For large orders, typically transported by truck, the operator utilizes a touch screen to select the order to be shipped. The screen then displays all products on the particular order, and as the seedlings are moved through a portal, its interrogator captures and confirms each tray's ID number. If an employee attempts to pack an incorrect tray, such as one intended for a different order, an audible alarm sounds, indicating the shipper needs to remove that tray. Once the order is completely packed, the worker then touches the screen, prompting the Grower's Own system to print a shipping list and send an advance shipping notice to the customer.
Smaller orders are usually shipped via Federal Express. In this case, the operator uses a touch screen cabled to the RFID interrogator to select the order and the box sizes. The touch screen displays the items needed to fill the order, and the reader captures each tray's ID number as it is packed in a box, and also updates the data on the screen. Again, an alarm sounds if the interrogator detects an incorrect tray. Once the order is filled, the operator presses the 'box filled' prompt. The software then accesses the Fed Ex Web site to generate a shipping label, which is printed, along with a packing list, and applied to the box.
According to Claiborne, Knox has already recouped the costs of the hardware and software. The improved shipping accuracy has been the company's greatest benefit, he says. The system's ability to track inventory saves the firm man-hours previously spent searching for trays or conducting manual inventories, and also reduces the number of excess plants that are sown and then discarded due to a lack of visibility into greenhouse inventory. "I believe it's been paid for—it took about a year," he says, noting that the largest gains have come most recently, following full deployment, as the staff got used to the system.
