— Newsletter Archive: Newsletter Vol. 5, 2023/12/13 —
In this edition, we will take you through a case study of business improvement using the HAKO-FLO logistics management solution.
The apparel industry is one of the industries that was greatly affected by the pandemic, but has recently been recovering, especially in the fast fashion industry. However, countermeasures against rising costs, such as raw material and logistics costs, have become a major challenge.
In apparel distribution, not only are distribution warehouses easily overwhelmed due to the large number of items, but distribution volume must change with the seasons and trends. Even for the same product, the required distribution volume will vary if there are differences in size or color, and the company must respond flexibly to changes in demand. In addition, compared to other industries, there are many things to check before shipping, such as the need to inspect products to look for stains, loose pieces, etc., and to confirm that there are no problems with the product, which tends to cause delays.
RFID is being widely introduced in the apparel industry because it is contactless and can read multiple product data at once. HAKO-FLO “RFID Query” is a system that reads RFID tags attached to products using an RFID reader with a specially designed RFID Query application software installed. This system enables the efficient manual operation of warehouse operations, from receiving to shipping, and accurately records the quantity of goods in a wide variety of products and fluctuating distribution volumes.
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Because HAKO-FLO is an independent service system, it can be quickly introduced and used by warehouses that do not yet have a Warehouse Management System (WMS), as well as those that already use a WMS, without having to change or modify their existing system.
[Cloud-based Merchandise Management]
Product data read by HAKO-FLO “RFID Query” during receiving and shipping inspections can be checked on the RFID reader, but the product data can also be checked real time at remote offices by sending the read product data to HAKO-FLO CLOUD. Product data uploaded to HAKO-FLO CLOUD can be filtered by various criteria, such as shipping/receiving date, product number, size, and color, allowing anytime, anywhere access to the information necessary for merchandise management.
[Inventory Management]
Taking inventory of products stored in a large warehouse one by one requires an enormous amount of manpower and time, and inventory checks require advance planning and coordination so as not to affect daily operations. By utilizing RFID tags attached to products, inventory data can be read from a large number of products at once instead of checking each product one by one, thereby reducing inventory time and increasing the frequency of inventory checks, which is expected to improve the accuracy of inventory management.
As an example of RFID implementation in the apparel industry, UNIQLO has introduced RFID on a large scale, and its self-checkout system in particular has become a hot topic. Many people have actually experienced the convenience of RFID by using the self-checkout system. However, RFID is not always effective once it is introduced, and it is necessary to analyze the current status of the warehouse to determine what kind of RFID solution is needed to solve the issues. It is also important to focus not only on direct, short-term results and costs, but also on indirect, long-term costs.
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