RFID technology successfully improves military uniform order efficiency

A Mississippi military uniform supplier applied radio frequency identification technology to the shipment of item-level clothing, saving 50% of freight labor costs and reducing the error rate from 5% to 0.2%, ensuring order accuracy. After the system was installed Orders are being fulfilled two weeks earlier than before. The use of EPC Gen 2 tags in the military uniform supply process has reduced packing errors by 96% while cutting labor in the shipping process.

The United States Air Force (USAF) has been providing labeled clothing since November 2009. Currently, the company's two suppliers in Mississippi have implemented the labeling system required by the U.S. military department. The labeled clothing is not only supplied to the Air Force, but has also been expanded. To the U.S. Marine Corps. The U.S. Air Force's item-level RFID deployment is designed to help the U.S. Defense logistics Agency monitor the receipt and issuance of uniforms at the Recruit Training Center at Lackland Air Force Base.

When purchasing military uniforms from clothing manufacturers, they need to be treated with insect repellent, waterproofing, and wrinkle removal before they can be shipped to the military logistics procurement office. After spot checks, they are finally sent to the soldiers. Before the RFID system was installed, these processes required manual work. Once an error was discovered by the purchasing department, all orders in this batch would be returned and inspected one by one, which resulted in very low work efficiency. As an intermediary supplier, it is important to ensure the accuracy of orders.

RFID systems can be fully utilized. The company is improving tag reading speeds at its second-largest supply center in Stonewall. However, the first Taylorsville system installed by the company mainly included three parts: RFID tags, readers and writers, and a web-based software system. The shortcomings of this system are mainly reflected in: first, the accuracy of label reading is not high, and how to ensure that the labels of moving goods on the conveyor belt are accurately read is a big problem; second, the Web-based server has a high impact on the Internet network. The connection is highly dependent. Once the network is disconnected, the entire system will not work.

The software developed by the company is used to manage local data and does not require a network connection. Additionally, this programmable software can be used to detect whether garments are labeled. By reading the tag information twice at different times, it is detected whether the goods are moving with the conveyor belt.

RFID channel reader above the conveyor belt

The system uses RFID tags. The company uses Zebra Technology's label printers to print ultra-high frequency (UHF) passive labels. The software Stores the ID numbers of all tags as well as the stock keeping unit (SKU) of the tagged garment. The clothing is packed into boxes and placed on the conveyor belt. When passing through the read-write channel, the tag ID is read and it is determined whether the ID corresponds to the inventory unit stored in the database. If there is a mismatch, the Zebra 105SL printer will automatically print an "unqualified" mark on the outside of the box to remind the staff to replace it in time to ensure the accuracy of the order.

The cartons arrive at the pallet through the conveyor belt, and the readers around the pallet only read the label codes on the cartons (as for the single product tags of the clothing in the box, they will no longer be read).

The lower left corner is the reader/writer on the tray

Similarly, when the logistics department receives an order, it will also read the label information during the inspection process, and payment will be made after the order is confirmed.

Workers will also use Handheld Readers from Consolidated Systems Ltd. (CSL) to read pallet and carton labels.

The deployment of this system has brought huge benefits to the entire supply system. However, a tag costs about 15 cents, which remains a challenge for widespread adoption. Typically, companies purchase 1.5 million tags per year, and that number will increase significantly, the total cost will continue to rise, and if the military does not mandate the use of RFID, companies may not continue to use item-level tags.