Track: Supply Chain Management

Abstract

In large scale supply chain logistics, RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) technology is becoming a critical for enabling world-class efficiency, reliability, hands-free & pilferage proof operations.

Supply chain in ecommerce differs from that of retail in terms of the dynamics and complexity of order and fulfillment process. In following paper we have addressed various challenges faced in a typical ecommerce setup in India by use of RFID technology:

1. Losses due to pilferage in transit and in warehouse as no item-level trace-and-track is available

2. Need for faster picking and putting process in the warehouse and easier product location changes in warehouse basis demand trends

3. Not having near-real-time and accurate stocktake in warehouse for availability promise to consumer & accurate inventory management

5. Lack of automatic reconciliation and batch-level hand-shake between various nodes in supply chain, that can speed up process and reduce manpower dependency

6. Need for faster and bulk inter warehouse transfer of goods as per demand forecasting

This paper is a result of two years of research done in collaboration with world’s best RFID technology players on developing and optimizing RFID tags and hardware; and multiple pilots to reach the 100% reliability & accuracy at best speed and lowest cost for item-level trace-and-track in ecommerce supply chain in India.