The Supply Chain Network Project, which consists of Bell Canada and a consortium of companies, issued a report on its RFID/EPC pilot program. As reported by Using RFID.com on Nov. 22, the pilot showed improved shipping efficiency, reduced delivery time and increased product selling days with products moving faster onto the sales floor.
Specific results included an 85% average store receiving time reduction from 17.75 minutes to 2.7 minutes per pallet. The average delivery center receiving time was reduced 50% from 5.36 minutes to 2.65 minutes per pallet. Additionally, the pilot showed an average read accuracy of 97.41% of all RFID-tagged product. The high read rate resulted in receiving accuracy of 99.2% across both pilot locations.
The pilot involved two suppliers (ACCO and Unisource), one third-party logistics company (UPS Supply Chain Solutions), one Staples Business Depot delivery center and one retail location and encompassed the Gen2 standard. Bell's partners on this project included RFID middleware provider Shipcom Wireless, tag and interrogator provider Symbol Technologies Inc., RFID label advisor and converter Marnlen RFID, RFID Printer Manufacturer Zebra Technologies Corp. and event-management software from Descartes Systems Group Inc.
According to the article, Paul Rowe, vice president of Enterprise Solutions for Bell Canada commented that the results demonstrate that businesses can benefit from improved efficiencies and increased productivity by integrating next-generation technology such as RFID.
The SCN is made up of: STAPLES Business Depot, Unisource, UPS Supply Chain Solutions, ACCO Brands Canada Inc., Fellowes Canada and WIS International.
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