Consumables
VCK Logistics and Telegraaf Drukkerijgroup Successfully Complete Paper Reel Tracking Pilot with PowerID Labels
Wednesday 08. October 2008 - Companies Use PowerID Labels to Track and Trace Newsprint Reels from Swedish Mill to Dutch Printer
PowerID Ltd., the industry leader in Battery-Assisted, Passive (BAP) RFID technology, announced today that VCK Logistics and Telegraaf Drukkerijgroup (TDG) carried out a successful pilot with PowerID labels to track newsprint reels from the mill to the logistics distribution center to the printing house. One hundred percent of the tagged reels were identified at RFID read points distributed in the supply chain.
The goal of the EU-funded pilot was to verify that RFID can be used to automatically and reliably track reels without the human intervention associated with barcode scanning. VCK Logistics and TDG carried out a business-case analysis prior to the pilot and found that the supply chain benefits were compelling enough to move forward with the pilot. Holmen Paper supplied reels for the pilot, and PowerIDs Dutch VAR, Phi Data, was responsible for the integrating PowerIDs technology into the project.
PowerIDs PowerR labels were attached to paper reel cores at Holmen Papers mill in Sweden before entering the winding machine. Wound reels were then read and registered at the wrapping machine in the mill. The reel was read by an RFID-enabled forklift at the Amsterdam port warehouse of VCK Logistics, TDGs logistics provider. Finally, the reel was identified at an RFID read point at the TDG printing plant, where Hollands largest daily paper, De Telegraaf, is printed.
VCK Logistics reports that 100% of the reels were read at the read point and on the forklift. The ability to automatically track reels will allow VCK Logistics to increase capacity and better communicate with its customers through IT systems.
“We are excited about using PowerIDs RFID labels to improve efficiency and the quality of the logistics service that we provide to our customers Holmen Paper and TDG,” said Jeroen Brauns, Manager Operations at VCK Logistics. “We are now examining ways of progressing both on the business and IT levels and look forward to continuing our work with PowerID.”
PowerIDs PowerR is the first UHF RFID solution for the newspaper and media publishing industry that combines superior reliability, omnidirectional, high range reading and affordability. Designed to withstand the rigors of the paper supply chain, from paper mill to printing machine, PowerR is applied on the outside of the core, between the core and the paper.
“We are pleased that VCK Logistics and TDG have chosen to work with PowerID,” said Fred de Haas, Director of Sales, Europe at PowerID. “Over the last few years, leading paper companies and printers have used our labels to track their reels, and we gladly welcome VCK Logistics and TDG into this group.”