Application of RFID technology in fresh food supply chain management process

1. Current status of fresh product management in Yonghui Supermarket

1.1 Overview of Yonghui Supermarket’s fresh food operations

Yonghui is one of the first domestic companies to introduce fresh products into modern retail supermarkets, with fresh food as the focus of its sales. At present, Yonghui Supermarket has more than 3,000 kinds of fresh products. At the same time, its fresh food business area accounts for half of its main venue area, and its fresh products account for 47.1% of its main business income. As shown in Table 1, Yonghui Supermarket’s operating income from fresh food and processed products increased year by year from 2016 to 2018, and its gross profit margin also increased from 13.35% in 2016 to 14.86% in 2018. These all show that Yonghui Supermarket’s operating income has increased year by year. The success of Huisheng Fresh Marketing Strategy.

1.2 Problems faced by Yonghui Supermarket’s fresh product management

1.2.1 It is difficult to control the cost of fresh products

Fresh products are easy to deteriorate and rot, and consumers often have higher requirements for the freshness of fresh products [2], which will lead to greater losses and higher costs of fresh products in supermarkets. Yonghui Supermarket focuses on affordable prices, so how to control the cost of fresh products and determine profit margins are issues it needs to consider.

Table 1 Fresh and processed products in 2016-2018 Unit: 10,000 yuan

1.2.2 Fresh product inventory management still lacks coordination

Yonghui Supermarket's two-way inventory control requires suppliers to make early judgments on fresh food supply as much as possible. However, due to the gap in relevant cognitive levels, the information held by suppliers does not match that of Yonghui Supermarket. This will occur. The inventory of a hot-selling product in the supermarket cannot be replenished in time, and the unsold products are overstocked, making the inventory management effect unsatisfactory.

1.2.3 Labor costs continue to increase

The personnel requirements in the fresh food area of Yonghui Supermarket range from fresh food buyers to administrators to fresh food production, and the inconsistent fresh food varieties lead to inconsistent needs. In addition, regular promotions of fresh products in supermarkets require employees to frequently replace paper labels, which generates a lot of labor costs and is prone to problems caused by manual errors, such as product information being inconsistent with the back-end system, product name and price being inconsistent. Inconsistency etc.

In summary, for Yonghui Supermarket, the existing traditional management methods are difficult to provide support for the company's comprehensive decision-making. The company's fresh food management can be combined with information management technology, such as RFID technology for the management of fresh products.

2. Basic framework for applying RFID technology in Yonghui Supermarket’s fresh food supply chain

2.1RFID technology and its basic application framework in Yonghui Supermarket

RFID technology is a radio frequency identification technology that collects data information. It can help companies grasp fresh product information in a timely manner and share supply chain information. Fresh products include four links in the supply chain: procurement or processing, storage, transportation, and product sales. RFID technology can be used in multiple links. The specific framework is as follows

2.2 Procurement and processing links

During the procurement process, Yonghui Supermarket can record the origin of fresh products and other procurement information through RFID technology.

During the processing process, the system center can automatically add processing time, processing method, storage requirements and other information to the RFID tag. After processing is completed, the processing center can automatically identify the label information, and use this information to automatically sort products, thereby reducing the cost of manual identification and reducing errors caused by manual operations.

2.3 Storage link

The main method of applying RFID technology in the storage process is to attach electronic tags to fresh products and install readers at the warehouse door or on forklifts. When fresh products are delivered to the warehouse, managers will transmit the verified label information to the database, and at the same time convert the warehousing information into storage information. Since there are many varieties of fresh products, each requires different temperatures. Therefore, storage requirements for RFID technology are higher. When products are put into storage, product information needs to be obtained from the reader/writer at the entrance, so that products can be allocated to different warehouses more accurately and efficiently. And it can monitor temperature changes 24 hours a day, which can avoid manual errors such as temperature errors or product confusion, and improve the accuracy of warehouse operations.

2.4 Transportation link

The application of RFID technology in the transportation process can, on the one hand, read the tags through readers and writers, and obtain the temperature changes around the products during transportation, which facilitates timely temperature adjustment during transportation and maintains a suitable transportation environment for fresh food. Recording temperature changes during transportation can help companies clarify the responsibility for problems that occur during fresh food transportation. On the other hand, before the product is put on the truck for transportation, the tags are read and written by the reader and analyzed in the information system center, which can help the logistics center quickly allocate the best transportation plan, help enterprises reduce related labor costs, and improve Transportation efficiency.

2.5 Sales link

Applying RFID technology in the sales process, on the one hand, for customers, by placing fresh products on the RFID Terminal equipment in the supermarket, they can learn the purchase time, place of origin, product transportation and storage days, and the best use Date, etc., so that customers can buy with confidence. Moreover, the RFID system is applied to the cashier. Customers only need to place the goods on the checkout counter for automatic settlement. This can greatly reduce the waiting time of customers and improve the settlement efficiency of the supermarket.

On the other hand, Yonghui Supermarket can judge the required storage temperature and environment based on the label information of fresh products, as well as determine the best sales price and storage time, and make full decisions on price and inventory, thereby helping enterprises Make timely adjustments, replenish goods in advance when product storage is insufficient [4], and prioritize products with a shorter shelf life for sale when the goods are plentiful, helping companies reduce losses and maximize profits.

3 Issues and suggestions that Yonghui needs to consider when applying RFID technology

3.1 Main issues

For Yonghui Supermarket, there are currently a series of problems in the application of RFID technology, including cost issues, that is, the need to pay attention to the relationship between the cost of technology application and the benefits it generates; technical issues, that is, what kind of electronic tag material to use to make it Maximize profits; process issues, that is, the application of electronic tags needs to consider the relevance of the entire supply chain.

3.2 Related suggestions

3.2.1 Selectively apply RFID technology to improve supply chain management efficiency

The application of RFID technology requires Yonghui Supermarket to comprehensively compare the sales cost and income of fresh products, and pay attention to the relationship between costs and the benefits they generate. For example, the supermarket's management center can classify products. For high revenue proportions, high procurement costs Most of the fresh products mainly use RFID technology to manage, but for those fresh products with small profit margins and low costs, there is no need to apply RFID technology. For example, the profit of a box of vegetables and apples listed in the table below is also It only remains at around a few dozen yuan, so if you choose to use electronic label management, it is assumed that the price of the electronic label used on each box is at least 0.5 yuan. Since it tranSports many boxes and requires a large number of electronic labels, it is difficult to Highlight the management advantages of this information technology.

3.2.2 Select electronic labels according to product needs and optimize the technology implementation process

At present, there are mainly three types of electronic tags: low frequency, high frequency and ultra high frequency. The readable distances of these three tags are 5cm, 1m and 10m respectively. This requires enterprises to choose according to different needs. In storage and transportation During the process, companies should choose electronic tags with a longer readable distance. At this time, the company will record the number of products in the box, origin and other information in units of boxes. After the end, the companies can recycle the labels for reuse. In the sales process, tags can be specifically added to each product, so that quick settlement can be made directly through sensing tags. The use of electronic tags on fresh products may cause damage to the tag due to transportation or friction and collision, shortening the service life of the electronic tag and affecting the accuracy of its information. This requires relevant technical personnel to maintain tags or readers.

3.2.3 Prioritize information with high applicability and improve the efficiency of information management

Electronic labels are applicable to the entire process from fresh product procurement to sales, so companies need to pay attention to the entire process of the supply chain. Enterprises need to choose more applicable information according to their own needs. For example, in the procurement process, they need to collect information such as origin and storage time. For fresh products that need to be Stored at low temperatures, they need to collect storage information and temperature change information. In short, enterprises need to choose a certain information. Information that is needed in each supply link or has the highest possible correlation with other links, so as to achieve the efficiency of enterprise management using information technology and help enterprises modernize their management processes.

4. Conclusion

The application of RFID technology can improve the management of fresh products in enterprises to a certain extent, help enterprises improve work efficiency and reduce labor costs. Thereby realizing informationized supply chain management. The use of electronic tags also allows companies to take an important step towards the new Retail Industry. However, RFID technology also has certain limitations in specific applications. Therefore, for fresh food supermarkets like Yonghui Supermarket, when using RFID technology to manage fresh products, it must be analyzed based on the specific situation of the company's fresh products. RFID technology affects all links in the supply chain, thereby integrating the entire supply chain, achieving information sharing, and increasing revenue for each link in the value chain.