Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Contents
CONTENTS.................................................................................................................. 1
INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................... 2
Technology of RFID system......................................................................................... 3
HOW COMPPONENTS WORKS..................................................................................3
Applications of RFID in fashion industry.....................................................................4
Production control................................................................................................... 4
Retail management................................................................................................. 5
RFID used in fitting room............................................................................................ 6
RFID tags for care labelling..................................................................................... 6
HOW SYSTEM WORKS IN APPAREL MANUFACTURING.................................................7
Large Apparel Retailers, Wholesalers See Sharp Rise in RFID Adoption, ROI..............7
Technical problems with RFID..................................................................................... 8
Problems with RFID Standards................................................................................. 8
RFID systems can be easily disrupted.....................................................................9
RFID Reader Collision.............................................................................................. 9
RFID Tag Collision.................................................................................................... 9
RFID Versus Barcodes.............................................................................................. 10
CASE STUDY I........................................................................................................... 11
Item-Level RFID for Apparel/Footwear: The JC Penney RFID Initiative....................11
CASE STUDY II........................................................................................................... 12
American apparel Boosts Sales 14%, Cuts Inventory Management Costs 35% with
RFID Solution......................................................................................................... 12
CASE STUDY 1.......................................................................................................... 14
INTRODUCTION
Radio frequency identification is an automatic identification technology that is
used to describe a system that transmits the identity (in the form of a unique serial
number) of an object wirelessly, using radio waves.
In the fast-paced world of fashion, success for retailers was by being able to put the right item in
the right style or size in the customers hand at the right time a simple concept that is difficult
to execute for a number of reasons. Fashion is a perishable commodity where
trendschangeovernight, making it difficult to ultimately predict duration and demand. Ordering
too much product translates into increased capital expenses that can erode a retailers bottom
line, while ordering too little can lead to missed opportunities and lost sales. Unlike other retail
segments where item shave a set location on the shelves, items do notstay in one spot.
Inventory is constantly on the move between the rack and the dressing room throughout the day,
often causing a false out- of-stock situation and a lost sale when the size a customer may need
is in the dressing room
waiting to be re-stocked. And keeping an accurate inventory is difficult and costly further
compounding the ability to ensure the right item is available for your customers at the point of
decision.
Research has shown 65% of the traditional inventories give the wrong figures due to inaccurate
methods used. And the very nature of high value merchandise that is openly accessible to
customers increases the opportunities for theft. Goods are often produced thousands of miles
from their eventual point of sale. Accurate, up-to-date information is therefore crucial to manage
worldwide supply chains successfully. In order to increase sales and reduce out of stock
situations, the supply chain, from the manufacturers through distributors to retailers, has to be
transparent and well managed.
RFID provides manufacturers with the ability to accurately track and safeguard goods
throughout
the entire supply chain to improve operating
costs.
Apparel retailers benefiting from RFID receive
real-time visibility into inventory and product
movement to reduce loss prevention, improve
store productivity and boost brand loyalty. High
levels of safety stock
excess inventory ordered to protect against
out-of-stocks
can be reduced.
Unlike bar-code technology, RFID technology does not require contact or line of
sight for communication.
An antenna
A transceiver (with decoder)
A transponder (RF tag) electronically programmed with unique information
(REF: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s40691-015-0034-9)
.A range of problems unique to fashion industry can be solved by installing the RFID
system in various processes involved in fashion supply chain. Fashion industry can
be divided into four sectors such as manufacturing, overseas transportation,
distribution and retailing. In manufacturing RFID can be used to avoid product and
component mixing, and mixing of different accessories. In overseas transportation
RFID can be used to track and trace the consignment before and after Free on
Board, if product is outsourced. RFID primarily can solve the issue of sorting and
tracking the product very quickly, thus reducing the lead time during distribution. In
majority of the retail shops, the space is a constraint, which needs to be used
efficiently. RFID is used to manage the stock to identify the item quickly and
correctly so as to avoid search regret, and thus help to solve the problem.
Inventory management
The use of RFID system assists in better inventory management and enhances
customer shopping experience. The RFID system can indicate the type of clothing
selling faster or slower, which provide customized advertisement on picked clothes
according to the RFID tags. The RFID use also helps in reducing labour. For example,
American Apparel applied RFID system in eight of their stores, which saved about
6080 h per week in labor and reduced out-of-stock products owing to unawareness.
Similarly, the Japanese apparel manufacturer Sankei is using a RFID system in
manufacturing to track clothes during the manufacturing process in addition to the
online sales.
Production control
Inside the stores of the production department the stock level can be quickly
monitored which helps in a real-time and efficient inventory management. The
location and movement of the components, semi-finished and the finished products
can be detected by the RFID system, which helps in production monitoring and
control. The performance of departments and the individuals can be evaluated by
the rate of movement of the garment components from the departments or
individuals. This helps in improving the productivity and the quality. In the packing
floor the mixing of different styles and sizes can be avoided by RFID tags. Also the
number of pieces in packed cartons can be counted without opening, which saves
the time and labour.
Retail management
It can be used in retail to monitor and control the floor level out-of-stocks (OOS). It is
mostly required where there is high product display density, low staffing level and
chances of mishandling is very high. The stock level of the items is properly
maintained and the items can be grouped according to their demand. Similarly,
while receiving the goods at the store the accuracy of the deliveries can be ensured
quickly with less labour. This can improve the inventory accuracy and automatic
replenishment of stock. Mostly the retailers verify the accuracy and integrity of the
shipment by open-box audit prior to stocking or storing of goods. But now it is
possible to read all the items packed inside the carton without opening, which saves
time and labour cost. So the RFID provides a new horizon to the retailers in
receiving of materials, which eliminates the invoice disputes, mixing of different
quality products etc.
The RFID has been used by number of major retailers in Europe and USA. Walmart is
among the early adopters of RFID throughout their supply chain and the suppliers
working with Walmart had been under pressure to implement RFID in their supply
chain component as well. The reason of implementing RFID is line with Walmarts
corporate strategy of being cost competitiveness and faster response. After
successfully implementation and use of RFID by Walmart, other big retailers like
Marks and Spencer and Tesco in UK are adopting it, Coles group in Australia have
given a thought of embracing this technology. Fashion industry is always regarded
as the late adopter of new technology than others, but in adopting RFID it is not
lagging behind.
The theft of garments from the fitting room can be prevented by mounting a small
reader at the entry point of the room. The tag information of the garment is
captured when the customer takes the garment to the fitting room. The items that
are taken to the fitting room but not come out are reported as potential loss items.
So the RFID can be used to identify the missing merchandise and prosecution of the
shoplifters. In addition, the dislocation of the clothes is automatically detected and
customers can be given advice on the fitting of the clothes they are trying on. The
later task can be achieved by the use of smart try-out cabins and smart mirrors. The
smart mirror can advise on additional clothing and fashion accessories. Companies
such as Marks and Spencer, Levi Strauss & Co. are installing RFID to acquire data on
the amount of stocks every day so that the stock can be replenished. However,
significant difference was observed between the data received from the RFID
systems and the actual inventory levels.
Also at the point of sales the RFID tag can be read quickly and it avoids the physical
handling of the product as in barcode system. The RFID tags can be placed at the
side seams or hem or in a paper cartoon label without affecting the aesthetic appeal
of the garment. The number of items sold is automatically adjusted from the
amount of stock. Hence, the customers can be informed about the status/stock of
merchandise by interactive display screens. The use of RFID tags has helped to
reduce the out of stock rate of Wal-mart by 16% and RFID enabled stores were 63%
more effective in replenishing out-of-stocks than control stores.
The other concern related to the use of RFID tag is the electronic waste. An
appropriate method should be devised to recycle or reuse the RFID tags, if they are
removed at the point of sale. Similarly, if customers remove the chip at some point,
proper disposal of the tags is essential, which causes additional worries to the
companies. In addition, the other issues related to RFID are the lack of
standardisation and high cost. Standardising the technology, design and use of the
tags can solve the issues related to lack of standardisation, whereas the
technological developments can help to overcome the cost related issues.
HOW SYSTEM WORKS IN APPAREL MANUFACTURING
Large Apparel Retailers, Wholesalers See Sharp Rise in
RFID Adoption, ROI
The rate of adoption for radio frequency identification in the retail apparel, footwear and
accessories market has more than doubled during the past two years, according to a
survey of 60 European and U.S. retailers and wholesalers, conducted by management
and strategy consulting firm Kurt Salmon. The company's first large retail study, carried
out in 2014, found that 34 percent of respondents had either implemented or were
currently implementing or piloting RFID. When Kurt Salmon conducted a similar survey
two years later, in May 2016, that rate grew to 73 percent. Of the 16 respondents not
using RFID, 86 percent indicated that management at their company was focused on
other priorities, while only 2 percent felt that RFID would not provide substantial
benefits.
Since RFID systems make use of the electromagnetic spectrum (like WiFi networks
or cellphones), they are relatively easy to jam using energy at the right frequency.
Although this would only be an inconvenience for consumers in stores (longer waits
at the checkout), it could be disastrous in other environments where RFID is
increasingly used, like hospitals or in the military in the field.
Also, active RFID tags (those that use a battery to increase the range of the system)
can be repeatedly interrogated to wear the battery down, disrupting the system.
Reader collision occurs when the signals from two or more readers overlap. The tag
is unable to respond to simultaneous queries. Systems must be carefully set up to
avoid this problem; many systems use an anti-collision protocol (also called a
singleton protocol. Anti-collision protocols enable the tags to take turns in
transmitting to a reader. (Learn more about RFID reader collision.)
Tag collision occurs when many tags are present in a small area; but since the read
time is very fast, it is easier for vendors to develop systems that ensure that tags
respond one at a time.
Security, privacy and ethics problems with RFID
(REF: http://www.technovelgy.com/ct/Technology-Article.asp?ArtNum=20)
RFID Versus Barcodes
CASE STUDY I
Item-Level RFID for Apparel/Footwear: The JC Penney RFID
Initiative
INTRODUCTION
In this particular study, item-level RFID tagging and physical inventory counting was
investigated in situ, primarily to determine the effect of item-level tagging on inventory accuracy,
which is known to cause other problems, such as out of stocks. Overall, the results can be used to
provide guidance to companies as they investigate whether, and to what extent, to implement
RFID.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
To investigate item-level RFID use cases, five stores were chosen: two RFID-enabled
stores and three control stores. Two departments bras (national and private brands) and shoes
(womens, mens, childrens, and athletic) were examined in this study. Each test stores bra
and shoe department was analyzed against a control department that was selected from one of the
control stores.
RESULTS
Inventory Accuracy
The baseline data for JCPenney had unusually high inventory accuracy percentages (far
above the industrys average of 65%). Because of the high initial accuracy, drastic improvements
to accuracy were not expected. However, at the conclusion of the pilot, it became clear that even
retailers with high starting inventory accuracy numbers can stand to gain from implementation of
RFID.
CASE STUDY II
American apparel Boosts Sales 14%,
Cuts Inventory Management Costs 35%
with RFID Solution