Why French Railways Introduced RFID

In the French railway system, an innovative revolution in uniform management is quietly underway. SNCF (French National Railway Company), together with Cepovet Group and Primo1D, have jointly launched a pilot project to achieve intelligent tracking and management of approximately 40,000 uniforms for railway employees through advanced E-Thread RFID technology.

The core of the project is UHF RAIN RFID thread, which can be directly sewn or applied directly to the fabric and will not be detected or damaged during washing and wearing. Cepovett Group, a French family-owned company specializing in the production of uniforms and workwear, sells more than 11 million garments each year, and SNCF is one of its important customers. In this cooperation, Cepovet Group will deploy RFID uniforms with built-in RFID yarn produced by Primo1D to provide smart uniform services for SNCF.

The E-Thread RFID yarn manufactured by Primo1D not only has excellent durability and can withstand the temperature and mechanical stress during the laundry process and the product life cycle, but also because it is directly sewn on the clothes, it is difficult to be easily removed. This gives each uniform a unique RFID identity, enabling precise management of uniforms. The application of this technology will greatly improve SNCF's inventory management of uniforms. From the wear, cleaning, storage, repair, maintenance to recycling of uniforms, each stage can be automatically identified and tracked through RFID technology. This means that SNCF will be able to more accurately grasp the flow of uniforms, optimize inventory management, reduce loss and waste, and improve operational efficiency.

Since the launch of the cooperation in 2022, Primo1D and Cepovet have had in-depth discussions and deployments on this uniform project. Valériane Henry, business development manager of Primo1D, said that this cooperation is in line with Cepovet's development needs for enhanced traceability and identification and its related new business models. At the same time, she also emphasized the durability and invisibility of RFID yarns, ensuring continuous tracking of uniforms while maintaining the comfort of the wearer. With the support of RFID technology, SNCF will be able to closely monitor the clothing process, from issuance to scrapping and recycling. This will not only help improve SNCF's operational efficiency, but also provide a key solution to meet the challenges of the circular economy.

Primo1D's technology has a wide range of applications in the Retail Industry, especially in the field of clothing and footwear. Its solution can identify products throughout their life cycle and identify many products at the same time, thereby optimizing the implementation of new business models, such as second-hand, repair and closed-loop recycling. In addition, Primo1D's tags can also be used for various use cases in other industries, such as tracking medical Assets or reading items on conveyor belts. This cross-industry application capability makes Primo1D's tags extremely competitive in the market. It is worth mentioning that although Primo1D is a dedicated tag manufacturer, it also actively cooperates with RFID integrators, software and hardware providers to provide customers with flexible data integration solutions. By integrating electronic thread data into the customer's existing digital ecosystem, full traceability of uniforms is achieved. The cooperation project between French Railways, Cepovet and Primo1D is not only a technological innovation, but also a comprehensive upgrade of railway uniform management. In the future, with the continuous maturity of technology and the continuous expansion of applications, RFID is expected to be applied to more aspects of railway company management.