Why Food Manufacturers Are Adopting RFID for More Efficient and Accurate Traceability

The key advantage of Zebra RFID is that it doesn’t rely on manual item-by-item, case-by-case, or pallet-by-pallet barcode scans. It’s a far more automated and efficient way to ensure food traceability and quality assurance because it doesn’t require physical access to a barcode label.

Instead, it’s able to detect, identify, and track hundreds of tags per second, even through packaging or containers and when RFID tags or labels are not immediately visible.

That means that, instead of spending hours scanning barcodes and needing physical, line-of-sight access to labels, you can capture, verify, and record the identity and location of thousands of items in seconds. The correct item, lot, case, pallet level, and timestamps can all be identified, captured, and logged—all without manual, labor-intensive scanning.

This is because RFID tags are labels with a tiny microchip that uniquely identifies a tagged item and tiny micro-transmitters that communicate its identity, status, and location using wireless radio signals.

RFID tags can help capture a whole range of data points for supply chain and production traceability. These include:

• Serialized product IDs

• Quantities

• Date, batch and lot codes

• Production, packaging and expiration dates

• Precise location data

• Warehouse or cold-storage locations

To do this, they communicate with Zebra handheld or fixed-position RFID readers, antennas, and software to transmit and share this data, allowing you to wirelessly and automatically trace and log raw food products, ingredients, chemicals, additives, and final food or beverage products. It all happens at scale and almost entirely automatically—across hundreds and thousands of items.

How RFID Captures, Transmits and Logs Data Automatically

RFID software is the key go-between that connects with your Zebra RFID system and the rest of your business systems:

• It runs on handheld Zebra mobile RFID readers or your other computing systems, communicating with Zebra RFID tags, readers, and antennas.

• It collects, verifies, and then transmits, shares, and syncs the resulting data with your inventory, production, and other business systems.

This way, you can digitally capture the key data elements (KDEs) and critical tracking events (CTEs) that FSMA compliance now requires, and you can achieve true, real-time, item-level visibility into your supply chain or production with far greater efficiency and automation.

But let’s take a look at what that really means in real, measurable terms.

The Measurable Differences in RFID vs. Barcode-Based and Manual Tracking

• 99.9% Order and Shipping Accuracy: A 10-month study in the retail sector by the Auburn University RFID Lab found that RFID helped brands and retailers achieve order and shipment accuracy of 99.9%. In the cases where RFID was not used, an incredible 69% of all inbound orders shipped by brands and received by their retail partners contained errors.

• 95% to 99% or Better Inventory Accuracy: Compared to manual and barcode-based tracking, a study by the Auburn University RFID Lab found that RFID improves inventory accuracy to an average of 95% or more. This is compared to as little as 65% with manual or barcode-based systems, which are far more prone to human error and missed scans.

• 70% to 90% Faster Inventory Cycle Counts: Since RFID can detect and track tens of thousands of items per hour, inventory counts are up to 75% faster, even if you’re using handheld RFID readers and physically walking your warehouse aisles or production areas to capture reads. In some cases, counts of 50,000 or more items can be completed in under 30 minutes.

Automated RFID systems with fixed-position readers or active RFID tags are even more efficient. They can read tags automatically as they pass through certain areas with fixed readers, or the active RFID tags will wake up at intervals and send signals to nearby readers. And it all happens with virtually no human effort.

Curious to Learn About RFID for Food Manufacturing? Here’s How.

This quick article highlights some of the key advantages of RFID for more efficient and accurate food manufacturing traceability. But, to delve deeper and find out what it can really mean for your operations, visit our RFID Food Traceability Page.

There, you can access more articles and resources, and you can request a free consultation with our experts, to walk through this technology, its food manufacturing applications, and how other companies have turned this into a crucial competitive and compliance advantage.