Case Study: Ribo Fashion RFID logistics solution
Case Study: Ribo Fashion RFID logistics solution
SUMMATION SOLUTIONS, the RFID solution partner of Ribo Fashion efficiency improvement project, provided one-stop service from labels, equipment to system. The project helped Ribo increase operational efficiency by 4-6 times and improve information management in warehousing and logistics.
Background:
Established in 2002, Ribo Fashion has been a well-known Chinese fashion brand featuring series of products including high-end women's clothing, handbags, accessories and more, distributed via nationwide network of over 500 stores, as well as online sales channels
For the further development of the brand, Ribo set high requirements for improving the warehousing and logistics efficiency and minimizing the backlog of inventory. Ribo explored the application of RFID technology which has been widely used in the apparel industry. Ribo holds strong belief in sustainable development and strives to reduce environmental impact when adopting the RFID technology. SUMMATION SOLUTIONS, a subsidiary of Esquel Group which also embraces sustainable values, is proud to be selected as the one-stop IoT solution provider with extensive industry experience, providing RFID solution services for Ribo.
SUMMATION SOLUTIONS Deployment
Kicking off the project in 2019, teams from SUMMATION SOLUTIONS and Ribo came together to review the business. They agreed that the primary goal of the project would be to deploy an automated warehouse site for Ribo to achieve higher logistics efficiency.
As a one-stop solution service brand, SUMMATION SOLUTIONS, provides a full range of services including RFID tags, equipment and system construction.
RFID tag: paper-based inlay, turning RFID more eco-friendly
First of all, SUMMATION SOLUTIONS helped Ribo design and customize the tag with different materials and appearances based on its needs, and uniquely coded each RFID tag to make it correspond to each SKU.
The mass application of RFID technology can greatly reduce the waste caused by the backlog of inventory in the apparel industry. Yet adopting traditional PET-based RFID tags can cause additional environmental impact to a certain extent.
The labels provided by SUMMATION SOLUTIONS are made with the world’s leading environmental technology, which is very different from the PET or other paper-based inlays produced by etching technology commonly seen in the market. The RFID inlays produced by this technology utilize wood fiber paper-based and low-cost materials with better conductivity.
During the composite process, the antenna paper substrate can be directly used as the surface material, without adding the secondary composite paper. The entire inlay production process does not use any drop of water so the whole production process is 100% free of pollutants, making it a truly eco-friendly product. Besides, ECO inlay's simple and efficient manufacturing process, coupled with a lighter and thinner label structure reduces material and transportation costs, helps maintain a competitive price while minimizing the environmental impact.
RFID warehousing integration solutions: starting from core pain points
After examining the warehousing process of Ribo, SUMMATION SOLUTIONS focused on improving its goods inbound and outbound logistics, sorting and quality control process.
In the past, the Ribo warehouse greatly relied on manual labor to scan the barcodes one by one. As a continuous improvement for the brand, Ribo and SUMMATION teams were tasked to tackle three major pain points in the management process:
- Low efficiency:Workers needed to scan the barcode with the barcode scanner manually, resulting in a relatively low efficiency. It hindered the delivery of products to the consumers particularly during the peak sales seasons.
- Error prone:Most processes were primarily based on human judgements, so it was inevitable to have certain error rate. In addition, it increased the time and cost for work training as it required skillful and well-educated workers to handle the procedures.
- Blocked data flow:Warehousing is a business process which consolidates huge amount of data from different aspects. Manual operation may hinder the agility of data circulation as well as the feedback mechanism. The lack of an integrated processing system also increases the error probability of data matching.
Brands should be far-sighted - with the application of RFID technology, you can save a lot of unnecessary production cost annually by achieving precise production. Reducing the backlog is the greatest act to protect the environment, which benefit both the company and the others.
Ribo Group Director and Vice GM Lin Liang
SUMMATION SOLUTIONS designed an integrated solution based on the analysis of the status quo and pain points. For the hardware, we provided flexible handheld RFID scanners, high-performance fixed equipment such as channel machines, sorters and customized hardware to facilitate data collection, with reference to multiple operational scenarios in the entire warehousing and logistics. The complexity of manual operations and the manual error rate were greatly reduced, enormously improving the efficiency and accuracy of every process in the warehouse operation. The data collected by the hardware were consolidated and assessed in the customer's ERP/WMS system, so that the information in the warehousing processes was seamlessly synchronized. In addition, SUMMATION SOLUTIONS also designed visualized interactive software for the entire process, so that operators and managers can monitor the operation status of each process in real time, improving the flexibility of warehousing and logistics management.
The application of the RFID system poses a certain degree of challenge to the operation and management of the brand. The key to the success of the Ribo project lies in the Esquel Group’s rich industry experience of more than 40 years, which helps tailoring concise, efficient and practical standard operation procedures (SOPs) for Ribo. Supported by precise and comprehensive operation training, as well as effective communication with the Ribo team, the project implementation went smoothly and optimized the benefits of RFID technology.
Benefits
After the first phase of the project, the operational efficiency has been increased by 4 to 6 times. With further review, the accuracy rate approaches 100%, which greatly reduces labor costs. Lin Liang, Director and Vice GM of Ribo Group said, “in the past, workers had to count piece by piece if the customer ordered 100 pieces. Now they only need to count all pieces in one go. Indeed, we still need to involve manual labor in the process. Their roles cannot be replaced by machines, such as keeping the tag facing up or putting clothes on the sorting equipment. Yet the demands for labor is far different from before.”
Ribo is a long-term partner of SUMMATION SOLUTIONS. We are grateful for the invaluable support from Ribo’s team and together we have improved the operational efficiency by 4 to 6 times. We strongly believe RFID is an indispensable technology to all retailers. With our technology and experience of over 40 years in the retail supply chain, we look forward to launching more successful RFID campaigns with our future partner.
Edgar Tung
CEO of Qonvolv ventures
Contact us
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info@summationsolutions
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- Hong Kong: +852 2960 6801
