The University of Parma’s RFID Lab has completed the second phase of a project designed to test radio frequency identification’s potential to increase turnover rates at retail and manufacturing organizations, by reducing and preventing out-of-stocks on store shelves. A variety of food and fast-moving consumer goods companies participated, including Auchan, Coop-Centrale Adriatica, Conad, Danone, Lavazza, Nestlé, Parmalat and Parmacotto. Indicod-Ecr, GS1’s Italian representative, also took part in the research, and provided Electronic Product Code (EPC) standards developed by EPCglobal. The project mainly involves Auchan’s distribution center, located at Calcinate (Bergamo, Italy), and at two of its retail hypermarkets. The DC affixed EPC Gen 2 RFID tags to approximately 5,000 cases of a panel of 60 fresh and dry goods. Learn how the pilot focused on the stores’ replenishment processes, and how RFID was used to monitor stock levels, both in the stores’ back rooms and shop areas, to reduce product shrinkage, as well as to optimize on-shelf inventory levels.
Speaker: Antonio Rizzi, Ph.D., Full Professor – Industrial Logistics and Supply Chain Management, University of Parma