Scandinavian fashion house Naisten Pukutehdas Oy has implemented an RFID-based total supply chain solution. The Finland-based company is opening its own chain of NP Collection stores and expanding its global purchasing network, and needed a supply chain administration tool. It started the program in June to improve the efficiency of its logistics.
The RFID tags are attached to NP’s garments at the manufacturer, which allows tracking and data collection throughout the supply chain. In phase 1 of the pilot, the garments are RFID-tagged at a manufacturing site in Europe; starting in January, NP Collection will tag garments made in China. This means the merchant will be able to track all of its apparel with RFID technology.
RFID enables NP Collection to follow each stage of the supply chain in real-time, which reduces costs and increases accuracy both in logistics and manufacturing. The company knows what garments are being manufactured, which items are on their way to Finland, and which stores are expecting shipments.
The item-level RFID system also covers the receipt and dispatch of goods, inventory management, and point-of-sale functions. NP Collection can carry out daily inventory to see what products are on the shelves and which require replenishment. And it can use real-time product information in stores to plan shelf space usage before the merchandise has arrived.
NP Collection’s RFID supply chain system is a collaboration between several companies: Integration services are provided by the Finnish companies RDN, Salpomec and Vilant, while logistics functions are supplied by Itella. UPM Raflatac is delivering the RFID tags, which are converted into labels by SML. The readers and antennas are supplied by ADT.