Warehouse Management Solutions by means of RFID technology applied to textile and clothing industry

The RFID technology has a great application in different sectors. The textile sector needs new technologies for the optimization of logistic processes to satisfy a major client demand. There are too many RFID solutions applied to textile sector as for example automation in the receipt and expedition of textile products labeled with RFID tags, internal logistic management and control of locations inside the store, a part from helps to prepare orders and accomplishment the inventory of the store. There are many advantages derived from the introduction of this technology in the textile sector. It also has a great prospect to be applied at different points in the textile value chain.

Keywords: RFID, traceability, management, logistic, warehouse, clothing industry, textile.

INTRODUCTION

Nowadays the market in which textile companies develop their activity is characterized by an increasing degree of demand, with a wide variety of good quality products, a tight price and a high level of service. In this context, the logistics has turned into a key and strategic function into the textile companies to reach competitive advantages. A good suitable management contributes to a costs reduction and increases the level of service.

In recent years the textile industry has suffered underdevelopment effects derived from the interruption of the internal demand and the fortitude of the competition, owing to the increase in the importation of low cost products by international commerce liberalization of industrialized countries. Because of these difficulties, the companies of the sector have reacted by adopting technological and organizational modifications, which have allowed them to support the competitiveness, with independence of the fluctuations prices.

1. DETAILS OF THE TEXTILE SECTOR AND CLOTHING INDUSTRY

The textile industry represents a heterogeneous and diverse sector that includes a wide number of productive activities, from the production of the fibers up to the elaboration of garments for home textile that comes to the consumer. Each one of these stages presents particular and typical features. It is necessary to pay attention that in the textile value chain there is a big variety of companies with different types and sizes from SMES strongly specialized in a concrete point of the value chain, up to big companies with big productions or more than one aspect of the supply chain(for example manufacture and distribution). In the case of Europe and Spain too especially, it is true that is kept a textile production, there is a trend to reduce the manufacture that removes third countries with lower costs, whereas here there is a major part of added value as for example design of articles and garments for every season.       

All of these particularities of the textile sector are summarized in a demand of a high level efficiency in the supply material management processes, warehouse control and expeditions, receipt of materials and sales point management.

There are so many new technologies dedicated to minimize costs and logistic times in a set of operations involved in the textile value chain. There are diverse technologies used in logistic operations for textile sector. For example technologies specialized in exchange of automated information, besides new identification and mobility technologies across radio frequency.

The developed solution takes attention on the utilization of the radiofrequency identification technology RFID for identification and follow-up of those elaborated or half-finished textile products on textile companies and clothing industry.

2. WAREHOUSE SYSTEM MANAGEMENT WITH RFID TECHNOLOGY

The method that it is going to be used is the incorporation of "intelligent tags" or RFID tags. These tags are added to the textile product semi elaborated or elaborated to be identified. Across a disposition of readers and antennas of radio frequency in the areas of production and storage in the textile company, it is possible to identify simultaneously textile products distantly, without need to arrange a direct visibility.

The introduction of the RFID technology supposes a great technological jump and it has turned into a strategic challenge for the companies. This technology is capable of generating up to a hundred times more information than the traditional barcodes: it not only identifies and reads it also manages the logistic operations using electronic information. Then the RFID offers the companies a major visibility and monitoring during the whole process and an improvement of the control of their operations and the relationships with the clients.

Next different applications are described in the textile companies and clothing industry by means of which they will be able to obtain a series of benefits and improvements, overcoat in the logistics of the company, as well as in the habitual operative work and the optimization of the tasks carried out by workmen.

2.1. Control of incomings and out comings

Textile companies produce a great quantity of flows of pieces or textile products, among different agents of the value chain. The receipt processes of goods, as well as the expedition to the clients requires a system of identification, in most cases some technology is used, one appeals to the identification by means of a barcode, with the next manual and individual treatment for unitary identification of textile pieces and garments.

The radio frequency identification technology RFID contributes in numerous advantages as the identification of massive products, without need of direct vision, for what it supposes an important saving in time in the entry and out coming of the textile pieces or products. To realize this process rapidly all the products, pieces or textile articles need to be labeled before with RFID tags, to be able to benefit the textile company in the moment of the receipt.

Normally the same textile product is treated by other external companies that apply some processes to the products and as final point they realize the labeling of the same ones. By means of this system of work there is optimized the incoming of products and textile pieces in the textile companies, since the whole goods come labeled and there is no need for any processing before the incoming of the material.

The incoming of the pieces is realized across an arch of reading RFID composed by an interrogator RFID which takes charge controlling and managing all of the readings realized by 4 RFID antennas that are connected to the interrogator. In addition, the RFID arch has mechanisms of identification, which activate the readings RFID when goods are detected inside. On the other hand, it has systems of warning and control of mistakes as beacons of luminous signposting or even acoustic signs.

The process of incoming is realized in a short time, it is only necessary to arrange the pieces, products or garments across the RFID arch, which can prepare in the wharves of incoming or in any place of the store and the system RFID it will come to the identification from each one from the labeled products and there it will realize the transmission of the information obtained across the Wifi interrogator or Ethernet to the Information System of the textile company, realizing a report of the incoming of the pieces and being able to compare it with the delivery note of arrival of the goods.

The RFID arch can have a fixed structure, placed in the wharves of incoming and out coming of the company, or can have a mobile structure with wheels that it allows to be able to arrange in any place of the store. It has, besides the devices commented previously of a system of uninterrupted nourishment that allows it to be able to displace it for the store without the system has to extinguish software incorporated into the mobile arch RFID.

On the other hand, the expedition process of pieces, products or garments is realized in a similar way to that previously described, in this case, it proceeds to send to clients or other suppliers, finishers of textile products labeled with tags RFID. It arranges a list of what is wanted to send and after realizing the reading of the whole palet, jail or lot of products, a comparison is realized if really it corresponds with what it is wanted to send. In case of turning out to be correct, is indicated the workman of whom the load can realize in the truck, if in the opposite case, some change exists, it reports of the committed mistake and must be checked for the persons in charge in the store to detect if some mistake has been committed in the preparation of the orders or does not correspond with the client.

2.2. Internal Logistic and Location Control

After the receipt of the garments, it proceeds to his internal management inside the store. It is necessary to have controlled and identified the location and disposition of the pieces or garments. In this respect they arrange of two solutions that correspond with the internal logistics that controls the transfer between stores or warehouses and the control of locations that allows to have all the products located in a few concrete locations.

First to control and manage the internal logistics they can prepare the RFID arches with a fixed structure in the steps of exchange of store or ship of storage. By means of the disposition of these RFID reading points it will allow the workmen, without the need to realize additional operations the transfer of pieces or textile products between stores or ships of a rapid and functional way.

Already each of the products does not turn out to be necessary to identify when it is wanted to penetrate of a store or to other one, since simply in spite of crossing the arch RFID, the interrogator starts the reading of each one of the labeled products and transmits it in an immediate way to the System of Information.

After starts the relocation in the storage area, in the majority of conventional warehouses they arrange of racks for the storage in locations of the pieces or textile products. It turns out necessary to know the correspondence of each one of the locations with the products that are stored in these locations. For it, it is appealed habitually to the experience and aptitude to remember of the store manager, but when they arrange of several warehouses or quantity of locations, it turns out necessary to have a Control System of the locations in the store.

The proposed solution is based on the identification and labeling with RFID tags of each location of the store, in order to read them with a mobile reader which is integrated in a forklift truck to transport the textile products. The forklift truck integrates an interrogator and RFID antennas placed strategically in the chassis of the forklift truck. By means of antennas orientated to the load, there is realized the reading and identification of the textile products and with the antenna arranged in the pitchforks of the forklift truck it is possible to read the location RFID tag. Across a terminal on board of the forklift truck it is possible to realize a rapid checking if the load it has been placed in the correct location or not.

The software is integrated in the terminal on board indicates if the worker is in the correct location or if on the contrary, the above mentioned goods do not correspond with the location that he is searching. This procedure is also used for the extraction of products or pieces from the store.

2.3. Warehouse Inventory System

After realizing the principal logistic operations in the storage area of the textile companies by means of the technology RFID one presents the solution to realize inventories of a rapid and effective way. The technology RFID allows the identification distantly and without need of direct vision of a great quantity of products and textile articles, since the materials of those who are composed do not turn out to be a barrier or obstacle for his correct reading.

For this reason it is possible to use the forklift truck equipped with RFID technology to realize the inventory of the store area by means of reading each one of locations. With the antennas located in the chassis of the forklift truck it is possible to identify the textile products or garments. It is possible to have in the Information System a reliable and real image of what is had in the store. Inventory execution of this system allows an important saving in time, as well as it favors the availability information and condition of the store, to know rapidly the real situation of the store.

 

 

2.4. Help applications in order picking.

One of the operations that need a major quality level is the order preparation or picking. In this respect, the RFID technology contributes to help the worker in the moment to realize the order preparation, using a mobile RFID terminal, the worker can realize the identification of the piece or garment of an exact and unitary way, being able to separate every product from other one with the same reference. In these RFID terminals, we can load help applications for prepare orders by means of a worker can be continuing the instructions that the terminal indicates to prepare orders to satisfy the client order.

In many occasions it turns out necessary to identify and to locate a concrete product of which have it an identificator, but "it" is "lost" by the store, for which can use the RFID terminal. By means of a software and introducing the product to identify, the RFID terminal can be "trace" the zone for which the workman is, and in case of realizing the reading of the products that is looked, indicate it by means of a sonorous sign. It is a question of a useful functionality in the preparation of orders, and even in the consolidation of the same one.

Finally, once the order is ready, it is possible to realize a last validation in the point of stretch wrapper, in which there join two or four antennas of reading RFID managed by an interrogator, which takes charge realizing the reading of the textile products and verifying if really the preparation of the order has been realized correctly to the client, indicating by means of a visual or sonorous sign of some possible mistake or his validity and correspondent movement to the expedition area.

3. BENEFITS TO APPLY RFID TECHNOLOGY IN TEXTILE SECTOR AND CLOTHING INDUSTRY

The RFID technology can contribute a great quantity of benefits and advantages in the textile companies, since it improves the times used for the logistic operations beside not needing of any more additional processes, but everything opposite, to reduce them to improve the capacities and speeds of response towards the clients.

• Reduction among 20-30 % of dedicated time to receipts and expeditions in checking products.

• Increase the number of orders prepared by workers.

• 100 % reduction in costs of incorrect shipment.

• Save in the indemnifications payments for incorrect shipments.

• Reduction around 90 % the inventory time.

• Improvement the information about the traceability product.

Some benefits are for example the reduction of time used in entrance of products labeled with RFID tags, the worker just must enter the goods across the RFID arch and is automatically introduced the information in the Information System of the company. On the other hand, it provides a great control of the order expeditions to clients, the preparation of the orders and expedition to clients requires an exhaustive process in which the most minimal mistake can cause a loss of sales or dissatisfaction of the clients. The RFID technology contributes an effective validation system in the orders preparation that it is possible to check in stretch wrapper point, as well as in the moment to load the goods in the truck across an RFID arch.

The time used in the accomplishment of the inventory it results one of the major problems for textile companies, as well as the accuracy with it is realized, it is difficult to know the exact location of each one of products or garments. By means of RFID technology it diminishes drastically the time used in the accomplishment of the inventory, besides which it turns out to be more exact than the realized one manually across the code of bars. Finally, the RFID technology contributes in more benefits in the preparation of orders as for example the possibility of locating a piece in a rack or to obtain information proceeding from the Information System in the RFID terminal to realize the picking.

4. PERSPECTIVES OF FUTURE

The introduction of this technology of identification for radio frequency in the textile value chain will allows obtain a rapid and reliable communication among the different stages that take part in the production processes. The incorporation of a RFID device that allows the identification of the textile products that is exchanged will facilitate updated information, that will suppose a reduction in times of shipment and receipt as well as a reduction of possible mistakes in the preparation of orders.

The application of RFID technology in all the textile value chain will come marked by the introduction of a RFID tag in the beginning of all processes that are able to incorporate information while the textile processes occurs in each of the stages through the textile chain. This system information will allow traceability in textile sector and availability online information across the points of reading located in each of the textile companies that use RFID technology.

 

 

By: Javier Muñoz Giner and Jordi Camarasa Escrig 

Tag Ingenieros Consultores S.L