Implementation of RFID-system for the reception and shipment of goods on the example of Styling

The company “Styling” was founded in 2001 and today has its own production line of children’s clothing under the brand name “Shaluny”, a network of company stores and works with dealers throughout Russia. Since 2006, all products of the Shaluny trademark are marked with special RFID tags.

Almost immediately after the launch of the production line, the company management needed to introduce a system of accounting for goods and obtain information about products at each section of the supply chain. That is, from the moment of production in the factory to the time of purchase of goods in any retail store. In this case, we were talking about hundreds and thousands of boxes that needed to be shipped and distributed to several retail outlets. For procurement and logistics management, it was important to know where and to what extent a particular product is located at a given time. What was needed was the opportunity to distribute “stale goods” and respond quickly to changes in demand. To solve these and other management tasks, the RFID system has become the optimal choice.

RFID technology is a method for automatically identifying objects in which data stored in RFID tags are read or written using radio signals. The key difference between RFID and barcode is the cost of receiving information from the medium.

The company “RST-Invent” took up the development and implementation of the RFID solution (since 2006, the company’s specialists have been working as part of Systemika Group, since 2010 the company has become an independent organization – LLC “RST-Invent”).

“The development of an RFID system for Styling was a difficult and interesting task. For us, this project was very important in particular because it was one of the first projects to introduce RFID in the field of fashion retail. In addition, this project did not focus on point-to-point implementation, but on integrated tracking of goods in all parts of the supply chain. As a result of this project, processes such as: 

• Reception of goods
• Shipment of goods
• Accounting and logistics of goods.

To integrate the RFID system with 1C, our experts have developed an intermediate level software. The company “Styling” carried out the implementation of the RFID system on its own,” says Vitaliy Voitsekhovich, Business Development Director, PCT-Invent.

The system was implemented as follows: RFID tags were printed on a special printer and sent to production, where they were glued to clothing tags. Clothing marked with RFID tags entered the central warehouse in the Moscow Region. An RFID pick-up / drop system was installed there. Since the entire consignment that arrived at the warehouse was already marked, the process of receiving even the largest consignments took only a few minutes. For example, after the introduction of an RFID system for receiving 8 boxes containing 400 units of goods, it took less than one minute.

Further, the goods were distributed to outlets. Sales outlets were equipped with anti-theft systems that prevent theft. And thanks to RFID-based product accounting systems, an inventory of the halls began to take only a few minutes. Product data recorded in RFID tags were uploaded to the 1C system, so the entire product path could be tracked in a single database.

RFID technology allowed Styling to reduce losses and improve replenishment of goods in stores. In addition, the system allowed to increase the profitability from the sale of clothes due to the fact that it was possible to sell more products at a higher price before it is reduced, because the goods are not stored in stock. The influence of the human factor was minimized, that is, the time spent by staff on processing the entire product: gaining access to each individual tag and reading its code.

“The RFID system allows you to track the availability of goods in any store. I may not even know in which city the point is located, and at what address, but thanks to this technology I will know what is not in it, for what reason and how much product needs to be added to the assortment,” says one of the founders of the enterprise.”

Recently, the company changed the location of the central warehouse, but this did not affect the quality of the system. All necessary equipment was easily transported and prepared for further work.