Rafik Group, which manufactures garments in the Brazilian city of São Gabriel da Palha, produces an average of 60,000 items every month. The company recently selected a radio frequency identification solution from iTag Etiquetas Inteligentes to eliminate the errors inherent in manual operations involving goods. With the RFID system, the company says it has automated processes, gained efficiencies and eliminated fraud, which has led to a reduction in costs, according to Felipe Pelissari, Rafik Group’s CEO.
According to Pelissari, the company’s processes, prior to the RFID system’s deployment, were manual in nature and thus generated many counting errors and supply chain delays. “A portal was installed at our distribution center where all parts are counted and dispatched quickly with sealed packages,” he says. “In so doing, we have eliminated human failures and fraud.” Rafik Group operates in several Brazilian states, including Bahia, Espírito Santo, Goiás, Minas Gerais, Paraná and São Paulo.
The solution includes tags with bar codes and an embedded RFID chip, Pelissari reports. “The tags are not reused,” he says, “because all the pieces are distributed among the stores, which facilitates our balance process. That is, we do not need to read each item piece by piece via barcodes. We merely use an RFID reader, which identifies which products are in the store, including information regarding style, size and color. This makes stock-taking quick and more assertive.”
Felipe Pelissari
According to Pelissari, the RFID solution meets the brand’s requirements. “We work with excellent quality at fair prices to all consumers,” he states. “We always try to get ahead with fashion launches, with our various stylists and our national and international research. With beautiful campaigns in our stores spread across five states in Brazil, in addition to the ease of our e-commerce, with products that go straight from the stores to consumers, our customers can find and buy any of our products.”
During the project, Pelissari says, the RFID system has faced no major challenges and readings have doccurred as planned. “All iTag technicians are very well-trained to make everything work,” he explains, “and we train our operators quickly and perfectly.” He adds that the solution improves speed, reduces manual processes and eliminates fraud. “For the time being, we are completely satisfied with the implemented process, which is already meeting all of our demands.” He says his company has integrated the RFID technology with its enterprise resource planning system.
With RFID, Pelissari says, “[Workers] just separate the orders and allocate them, sealed, at our DC. Then, when it comes to billing, they simply read and issue the invoice. ” The gains already achieved with RFID, he reports, include speeding up processes, combating fraud and eliminating the incidence of human errors. “In case of any doubts, iTag’s team are totally qualified and attentive.”