Application of RFID in beverage retail industry

In recent years, some major U.S. retailers such as Walmart, Target and Albertsons have begun requiring their suppliers to deploy RFID technology at the pallet level. For the future, people have also envisioned application plans for RFID technology, such as the "Smart Shelf" plan. After the plan is completed, when consumers push products with RFID tags through the supermarket exit, the reader will read the identification information on the products in an instant, so that people no longer need to queue up to check out.

This is just one application of RFID technology. The most typical application focuses on inventory management: it is used to track the storage and transportation of goods, while verifying the status and location of products during transportation.

The application of RFID technology has promoted the development of all walks of life, and beverages, as a member of the Retail Industry, are naturally no exception.

RFID technology will bring benefits to the beverage retail industry

In the eyes of beverage manufacturers, RFID identification and scanning are meaningless for maintaining indoor inventory, but in the retail field, RFID technology can improve the supply chain replenishment efficiency, which is why retailers are keen to establish RFID systems. .

Solve the problem of product out-of-stock

Maximizing supply chain transparency is an important goal for retailers. One of the biggest problems retailers have is this: When a consumer wants to buy a product but learns that it is out of stock, in most cases he will choose to buy it elsewhere. As a result, retailers not only lose the opportunity to sell goods, but also lose the possibility for consumers to purchase other goods in their own Stores.

Wal-Mart once pointed out that if it could solve 1% of the product out-of-stock problem, Wal-Mart could gain an additional $2.5 billion in sales revenue. In order to be able to do this, retailers need to examine why goods are out of stock: Is the retailer unaware that the goods are out of stock? Or are they unaware that there is stock in the warehouse? Or is the goods in transit from the factory to the supermarket? RFID Technology can give retailers the transparency they want about what they have now and where it is.

Reduce safety stock quantities

If the inventory is sufficiently transparent, it can theoretically reduce the amount of safety stock that must be maintained in the warehouse, thereby reducing the inventory quantity of all goods and saving a lot of money.

Reduce labor costs

While barcodes can be done, barcodes require more physical scanning, which often results in more human effort. RFID is a more automated technology that can improve reading speed and supply chain transparency without adding additional labor costs.

What benefits can beverage manufacturers benefit from RFID technology?

The first is to meet the retailer's RFID compliance requirements and maintain a good trade relationship with the retailer; for example, Wal-Mart recently stated that 30 minutes after reading the product identification for the first time, the company will publish the inventory status online so that anyone can query it. This can help beverage manufacturers track the status of products in the supply chain; and as RFID technology develops more and more deeply, and suppliers begin to integrate with partners and customers' systems, a number of other benefits are gradually emerging, including More advanced warehouse management automation and faster supply chain response times due to enhanced communication, low inventory, etc.

RFID technology in single packaging in the beverage industry

There are still some difficulties in application

Currently, in the field of beverages and other liquid commodities, the application of RFID is only limited to the level of pallets and outer packaging boxes. In theory, RFID identification should also be applied to individual packages, but the RFID identification on individual packages can be accurately read. The technology is not yet mature, and these signs are easily affected by packaging materials, product types, and the location where the signs are pasted.

technical problem

Metal containers and liquid filling containers are the two biggest problems, making the placement of RFID tags critical. The technical limitation is that the radio waves emitted by some standards organizations such as EPCglobal UHF (Ultra High Frequency) logos can be absorbed by water, and metal containers can reflect these waves back. This makes it very difficult to label beverage products, especially those packaged in aluminum cans. Nowadays, it is common to build partitions in the pallet to enhance the marking response.

cost issue

Cost is another decisive factor. Companies resisting the use of RFID wonder whether they will get adequate returns if they invest in the technology. Another cost-related issue is the expense of labeling individual beverage containers.

RFID solutions for the beverage industry

RFID identification of beverage products and scanning of identifications require overcoming a series of difficulties. Moisture aside, liquid products in metal cans and packaging often prevent readers from scanning accurately, especially if the mark is not placed correctly. In order to reduce reading errors and simplify procedures, more and more forward-looking companies have begun to develop and design special equipment for the beverage industry.

Videojet is one of them. Videojet cooperates with Accu-Sort Systems to provide packaged goods manufacturers with a complete set of RFID application systems. It includes Fast Tag equipment that produces and encodes RFID tags, an RFID Reader provided by Accu-Sort, and a patented tag identification and recovery system.

Other companies such as Markem have also developed many RFID solutions suitable for beverage industry applications, providing beverage manufacturers with more choices.

Future and Outlook

Although it seems that not many beverage suppliers are willing to take the RFID bus at present, the arrival of the RFID era is still very exciting. The investment recovery rate of RFID technology is not significant in the short term. Just like the barcode back then, it took 25 years of development for the barcode to reach today's application level. In a short period of time, most of the benefits may fall into the hands of Wal-Mart or Albertsons to improve their supply chains. For beverage suppliers, reducing the probability of product out-of-stock will also bring them great benefits. In 5 to 10 years, when the application of RFID technology becomes more widespread, the time will come when RFID technology will benefit mankind.