The RFID roll-out is underway at Thomasville’s Appomattox, VA, distribution center, which is the company’s only DC. Because the facility comprises five interconnected buildings, the smart label print-on-demand RFID solution is mounted on wheeled carts. Two RFID-enabled carts were used starting in May with three more planned as the company’s RFID rollout continues. A cart includes an onboard power supply, a rugged PC and monitor, printer, and bar-code scanner. One cart will be on a line while the second will usually be positioned by a pallet stretch wrapper.
The components used with the Accu-Sort mobile tagging stations include: Zebra Model R110 printers for tag enabling and printing; and RFID tags from Alien Technology as well as Alien Model 9780 Class 1 reader portals deployed using Odin technologies’ ruggedized RFID racks to protect the reader-antennas.
The wheeled carts provide flexibility throughout the facility. This includes replacing damaged or otherwise unreadable tags. Because Thomasville’s cases, which contain unassembled furniture, are large and heavy and weigh from 60 to more than 200 lb, it is easier to bring the cart to the cases.
Odin technologies’ Trifecta testing software pinpointed the specific “best” tag placement on the box for more than 20 different stock-keeping units that are RFID tagged.
With the bar-code scanner on the cart, a worker is able to associate the SKU with the Electronic Product Code number and the order number to commission the tag. A digital image of the box is then displayed on the monitor on the cart to show the worker the specific placement location for that item’s tag.
After manual item-level smart-label case tagging, cases are built into full (one SKU) or mixed (multiple SKU) pallet loads. The loads are then RFID scanned and verified by the Alien reader while the unit turns during stretch wrapping. That station generates a pallet-level RFID smart label that is applied to the wrapped load.
Before it leaves the facility, a load is scanned by a reader-antenna at the dock door to reconfirm the tags’ readability and record when shipments leave the facility.
Thomasville, a Target Top 100 supplier, is initially shipping the tagged cases to Target’s first RFID-enabled DC, in Tyler, TX. The company will also ship RFID-tagged cases to Wal-Mart in 2006.
