Optimising logistics and fighting the grey market with RFID technology

Murata ID Solutions' RFID technology has assisted Italian fashion brand Liu Jo to strengthen protection against the grey market while pushing new efficiencies over its supply chain. The RFID technology is deployed at its distribution centres to enhance the traceability of products, lessen complexity from the logistics operation and reduce product transit time.

Antonio Rizzi, vice president, Murata ID Solutions, said: "RFID in retail is best known for its benefits at store level, but it also brings significant advantages to manufacturing and distribution. On top of that, the value that can be gained from using it to fight the grey market can be huge. When leveraged to its full extent throughout the supply chain, it can prove to be a real game-changer, with an ROI of months or even weeks. We are very excited to collaborate with Liu Jo on this project."

The solution deployed includes Murata's RFID Tunnel gates and RFID software suite id-Bridge 4.0, an advanced web-based platform that facilitates end-to-end management of RFID systems on any scale. The tunnels set on the conveyor belts in the distribution centres deliver automatic and fast identification and verification of all products in inbound and outbound processes. The integration with the software provides that the tagged products are automatically compared to a list of expected tags as they move via the conveyor system. Only products that match the list are shown the green light to proceed. Due to the fast and accurate automatic reading, the system significantly speeds up logistics processes and increases inventory accuracy.

The companies worked together to determine the most suitable RFID tags for the solution. Each tag has a unique serial identifier and is distinguished by high-grade security features. This makes RFID a crucial tool in the fight against fraud. Tagging every product with RFID enables Liu Jo to track every product with the highest possible accuracy to guarantee authenticity.

Carlo Del Stabile, chief operating officer at Liu Jo S.p.A commented: "We are implementing RFID for smarter and more streamlined operations in the distribution centre. Today's global and omnichannel market demands continuous improvements of our supply chain. RFID will help us boost the efficiency of the logistics processes while also enabling us to better combat grey market and product counterfeiting, which both represent an increasing threat to our brand value and trust".