THE APPLICATION OF RFID IN WAREHOUSE PROCESS: CASE STUDY OF CONSUMER PRODUCT MANUFACTURER IN THAILAND

Background: This warehouse has three main problems: poor accuracy of inventory location, long cycle time of receiving process and non-real time empty storage location. Therefore, the objective of this research is to improve the process in the warehouse by applying radio frequency identification (RFID) technology.

Methods: There are four steps in this research. First of all, the current of the receiving process and the picking process are studied. Second is to give the guideline for RFID application. Third is to implement of RFID system in this warehouse. The last one is to compare the result of the current process and the proposed process.

Results and conclusions:  The passive ultra high frequency (UHF) RFID is selected for used in this warehouse. The RFID readers are attached on forklift trucks, the warehouse entrance and loading dock area. The system used RFID tags in two forms: one form used to identify pallets and another to indicate the locations of shelves on which pallets are stored. After using RFID system in this warehouse, the results showed that the accuracy of inventory location increased from 78.2% to 100%. The cycle time reduces from 66 minutes to 47 minutes which is down to 28.79%. . Moreover, the empty storage location are known real time.