RFID chips on stock items as the key to efficient picking processes

Mineral water, bread, butter, milk, chocolate, pasta, cream, apples, cherry tomatoes and red wine. Everything on your shopping list is in the trolley. Despite loads of customers in the store, there is no queue at the checkout. The reason: RFID chips.

In the supermarket of the future, food and other shopping articles will be marked with RFID chips instead of bar codes. Checkout will involve your trolley passing a barrier gate which automatically identifies the chips and calculates the total price payable in just a few seconds. A quick cross-check of the articles and payment by credit card complete the purchasing process.

What is RFID?

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is a wireless process for labelling and identifying goods and other items. It is an electronic process that works without the need for contact and transmits the relevant data about the goods via radio waves across a certain distance.

The disadvantages of hand-held scanners

This concept of the supermarket of the future is already becoming the norm when it comes to labelling stock items and the key to the picking process in the industrial sector. Mobile scanners have the disadvantages of having to be regularly charged or losing the connection to the Wi-Fi network at times. When the forklift driver has to jump down to scan items manually, the entire picking process is interrupted and time wasted.

Particularly in the print and packaging industry, where the majority of goods are stacked on dedicated pallets rather than on pallets containing a variety of different articles, improvements can be achieved rapidly. Stock item labelling with RFID chips and the automatic identification of stock items are used to make loading processes more efficient and to avoid errors.

The efficient picking process

The ERP system is made aware that a loading process has begun when a warehouse employee loads the first stock item onto a truck. A barrier gate on the loading ramp automatically identifies every stock item which is loaded onto the truck. The article-related information, order number and quantities are displayed in the ERP system in real time.

Once the last stock item has been loaded, the picking process is completed and the shipping documentation, such as the delivery note and the CMR, are automatically printed. There is no need for the warehouse employee to get off the forklift even once and no chance of them mistakenly scanning the wrong stock item.

With Solutions Factory as your implementation partner, you have access to all the experience and expertise you need related to RFID integration and a partner who can support you in the next digitalization step.