KiMs A/S

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) Solution Provides Unprecedented Insight Into Supply

Business and technology goals

Greater insight into the distribution chain, from the loading of the products until their arrival at the retailer.

Solution

The first radio frequency identification (RFID) pilot of its kind in the mid-market was at KiMs. The RFID solution is one of the modules used at KiMs as part of the Microsoft® Business Solutions–Axapta® (now part of Microsoft Dynamics™) implementation. The integration of the latest RFID technology gives KiMs accurate and reliable control of the inventory through Hands Free Warehousing. RFID has been applauded by manufacturers and retailers for its potential to provide an unprecedented level of visibility across the supply chain.

Products at KiMs are packed in cartons and loaded on pallets, which are then moved to a staging area to be picked up by trucks for delivery to a distribution center. A unique identifier is written to the RFID tag on each pallet, thereby associating the pallet with data so that its movement and position can be monitored at all times.

The tags are monitored at storage, loading, and shipment, and the data is fed back into Microsoft Axapta. The RFID tags are used for tracking the movement of pallets during shipment, providing KiMs with greater visibility into its supply chain. Another anticipated benefit of the RFID tags is the trimming of inventory levels at the distribution center, due to increased data accuracy.

Before the introduction of RFID, there was much less control of products. There were even some products that just went missing. The hauler did not sign a receipt when picking up products at KiMs and KiMs did not keep track of inventory at their staging area. Consequently, nobody would be able to find out if a pallet or a carton went missing except in the biannual inventory count. The RFID solution allows KiMs to have a much greater overview of where their products are in the distribution cycle.

Jens Kjær, the Supply Chain Manager at KiMs concludes: “We can now automatically move the pallets from location to location using the RFID technology. This not only saves on resources but also helps avoid incorrect entries. Another benefit is the possibility to trace each pallet after the pallets have been moved. We can now pinpoint which truck a pallet has been moved to and the exact time it left the factory, and we can easily locate a pallet that hasn’t reached its destination. This tool not only helps us to plan our warehouse space better, which allows us to trim our inventory levels and to minimize shrinkage, but it also provides us with a valuable insight into our supply chain.”

A Microsoft-based solution
KiMs implemented Microsoft Business Solutions–Axapta in June 2003, because the company wanted greater visibility and insight into its entire supply chain (from its suppliers to its distributors). The company decided to implement a set of solutions that are integrated with Microsoft Axapta to help them achieve these goals. These solutions improve the forecasting at KiMs and enable the company to make more proactive decisions when disruptions happen. The RFID solution helps to reduce manual data entry at KiMs and also to track the pallets of finished goods. The RFID solution also enables KiMs to gain a greater knowledge of the exact location of its products at various points in the supply chain.