Migros Cooperative Eastern Switzerland can now quickly indentify which refrigerated produce is being loaded onto which of its trucks, thanks to new tracking technology.
Migros is attaching RFID tags to returnable containers, meaning that the retailer can quickly take relevant action when an error occurs and can also access data for the purpose of checking the status of relevant orders.
It is one of ten regional co-ops belonging to the Swiss retailer Migros. It has begun utilising radio-frequency identification technology to automate the confirmation of which goods are loaded onto vehicles destined for specific stores, and to pinpoint precisely when this takes place.
Load Unit Identification and Positioning, or LUIDO (LU-Paletten Identifikation und Ortung) is the system's name. The company rests safe in the knowledge that forklift drivers need not visually confirm that they have the correct load, move boxes to do so, or scan bar codes. Rather, they simply proceed with going about their duty of moving goods from the staging area onto trucks, while receiving an alert in the event of a mistake.
Tomislav Pavicic, Migros Ostschweiz's supply-chain architect, has explained that the retailer's adoption of LUIDO is one part of a bigger-scale restructuring of its logistics architecture. The company has already begun employing an Electronic Product Code Information Services (EPCIS)-based database receptor of data regarding shipments' movements and locations.
© 2014 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article written by Peter Donnelly.
