American Apparel, a LA-based fashion retailer, manufacturer and distributor has over 200 retail stores in 18 countries and is still growing! With all of their apparel manufactured in the US, including the knitting, dying, cutting, sewing, and design, it was always a challenge to keep track of so much stock (over 26,000 SKU items). In order to reduce the amount of lost sales due to out-of-stock clothing, American Apparel needed a more efficient system to keep track of their inventory.

It was clear that what American Apparel needed was an item-letvel RFID solution to control its manufacturing, distribution and retail operations, allowing them to receive benefits not only on the retail floor, but also throughout their supply chain.

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In today’s chaotic world of business, companies need a reliable way to manage their inventory that has been taken and returned throughout their locations. Without proper tracking, business can experience missing inventory, in addition to inaccurate inventory counts.

Using a check-in/check-out inventory control application, in conjunction with the proper hardware, allows organizations to gain more visibility into their inventory. In order to implement this, organizations will typically upload their information into the inventory software application and use tamper-proof barcode labels for each item that will be checked in and or out. When an item is taken from the inventory, a record is automatically created.

Typically, check-in/check-out solutions are used in applications such as offices, hospitals, repair shops, schools, emergency services and military units and are becoming more and more popular. In fact, the Material Handling Industry of America (MHIA), recently named Check-in/Check-out Inventory solutions their Solution of the Month for February 2010.

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Maintaining accurate material tracking data can be difficult in the complex world of material handling and logistics. Despite advanced asset tracking systems, loads are shipped incorrectly, items get lost and inventory counts become error prone. However, Sky-Trax Inc., a specialist in addressing operational challenges within warehouse environments, has developed a real-time location system (RTLS) to alleviate these issues.

Sky-Trax Optical RTLS are able to track objects in real-time inside the warehouse, where GPS signals and other methods of tracking have proven to be unreliable. Such an optical based system is made possible by an optical sensor which provides an instant location and heading of each utility vehicle, with accuracy within a few centimeters. Load location is determined by an on-board computer which calculates the distance and angle between the vehicle-mounted sensor and the center of the load. The data is sent via a wireless link to a controller, which then collects data from all vehicles and provides inventory transaction data to the WMS via the plant’s network.

By using an Optical RTLS, businesses can reap the following benefits:

• No need for barcode scanners, clipboards, or data entry terminals
• Elimination of erroneous or after-the fact data entry
• Immediate productivity gains
• Safer operations
• No more lost inventory
• Improved shipping accuracy

For more information on Optical RTLS from Sky-Trax, learn more by downloading this informative sky-trax-overview.

As more and more companies realize the value of having an automated supply chain, it’s important to realize the capabilities needed before deciding on a solution. Use the following list below in order to determine what to do.

Conduct a Supply Chain Audit
Document what current manual processes are used and what is already automated. Also make note of any areas that are slow throughout the supply chain and look for processes that rely on one another for functionality. Make not of any changes that could be made.

Develop a Plan

• Prioritize areas to implement new technology and ask yourself what would gain the most value at a fast pace
• Define your current processes, changes and improvements
• Look for internal and external dependencies that affect the project and be sure that there are no missing links
• Look into hardware and software solutions. Be sure to choose vendors and partners that have a proven history within your industry.
• Include everyone that will be impacted by the automation, including employees, suppliers, and vendors. Make sure everyone understands the changes that will be made and what results they will provide for the company.
• Build in contingency time in case anything unforeseen happens.
• Plan for growth and implement a system that will grow along with your company.
• Define the ROI and go into the project knowing how its success will be measured, in addition to how the data will be collected.

Rollout Automation Methodically
Rather than attempting to begin everything at once, take your time and plan your automation implementation step by step.

Measure the Results
After each automation process is installed, measure the success in order to streamline future implementations.

Source: Intermec White Paper
Download the full version barcoding industrial automation.

A recent study regarding the use of RFID technology in the supply chain was published by the RFID Research Center at the University of Arkansas. The 13-week item-level tagging experiment was conducted at Bloomingdale’s stores last fall, and ultimately improved the store’s accuracy by 27 percent Let’s take a look at how these results were achieved.

In the experiment, two Bloomingdale’s stores in the northeastern United States were used, one was a test store, and the other a control store. At the test store Avery Dennison EPC Gen 2 passive UHF RFID tags were placed on men’s and women’s jeans. The RFID tags were attached to the jeans as they arrived to the test store, and the sales staff removed the tags once the jeans were purchased. Returned merchandise was retagged via a RFID printer/encoder. In order to properly count the tagged inventory, staff were supplied with handheld Motorola EPC Gen 2 UHF RFID readers.

Throughout the initial five weeks of the pilot, the test store staff used RFID readers and barcode scanners to count the RFID-tagged stock. They also scanned the barcodes attached to the same SKUs in the control store. They both performed counts three times per week, both on the sales floor and in the back room.

From there, the data was used to establish a baseline for the inventory in the men’s and women’s departments in both the test store and the control store. For the remainder of the experiment, both barcode and RFID counts were conducted two times a week via a contracted inventory service.

In the test store, inventory counting through barcode scanning and RFID technology provided a comparison of accuracy and efficiency. In addition to inventory counts, RFID readers were mounted at all employee and customer exits and entrances in the test store, allowing tagged merchandise to be more closely monitored.

Ultimately, researchers found that accuracy levels declined over the 13 week experiment when software was not adjusted by actual counts done with the RFID readers. However, once the inventory management system was adjusted to the actual counts done with the RFID readers, inventory accuracy improved by 27 percent, with overstocks decreasing by 6 percent and under-stocks decreasing by 21 percent.

Aside from accuracy, the amount of time it took o conduct the physical inventory counts decreased drastically. While barcode scanners could count approximately 209 items per hour, an astounding 4,767 items per hour could be counted with RFID. Thus, there was a net result of a 96 percent reduction in cycle-counting time by using RFID instead barcodes. By saving so much time, Bloomingdales would ultimately be able to perform more physical inventory counts, rather than just doing them a couple of times a year. The RFID system implemented at Bloomingdales was also able to prevent inventory losses.

Ultimately, the researchers plan on using the Bloomingdale’s study as a part of a more grandiose effort to demonstrate the ROI of RFID in retail environments. It will be interesting to see if further studies can influence other brands to make the move toward implementing an RFID based solution in their stores.

Do you think RFID technology will become a retail store staple?