How RFID can help to enhance the sustainability of food supply chains
Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology plays a vital role in enhancing the sustainability of food supply chains. It is a highly innovative and efficient tool for monitoring and managing the flow and distribution of products throughout the supply chain. Here are five key benefits of RFID technology to enhance food supply chain sustainability:
Enhanced product traceability: RFID technology can support better traceability of products, enabling companies to identify and address environmental and ethical issues in their supply chains. The concept of paddock to plate or farm to fridge allows for greater insights for both consumers and primary producers.
Advanced efficiencies: RFID technology enables the automation of manual processes throughout the food supply chain, such as produce harvest and packaging. This can lead to higher productivity, reduced labour costs, and lower energy consumption.
Improved inventory management: RFID technology can provide real-time stock deliveries, inventory levels and expiration dates all without having to manually handle stock or requiring line of sight visibility. This also allows for insights into purchasing trends reducing the risk of overstocking and ensuring faster restocking.
Waste reduction through the use of RFID can assist in managing stock rotation, processes significantly reducing the amount of waste generated through product spoilage and underutilisation, identifying opportunities for diversion of products to community support projects and services prior to expiration.
Greater consumer safety in the event of contamination or other product recall events of affected goods can be quickly identified and removed from sale.
By extending the use of RFID to include sensor enabled tags further enhancements can be made to manage the sustainability of food supply chains. These tags can track products in real-time, enabling companies to monitor and control the environmental conditions that impact product quality and waste. For example, RFID temperature sensors can ensure that food products requiring a specific temperature to freight and store them are within the optimal range, minimising the risk of spoilage.
Does RFID technology have a place in your food supply chain to help improve your day-to-day processes and operations?
Contact us today via projects@4idsolutions.com or call on +61 (02) 4394 0333 for more information or to quote your needs for your unique RFID application.