Edson Perin
Totvs, Brazilian company that has become a multinational in the business management software (ERP) market, is betting on boosting its clients’ businesses in 2022. In an exclusive interview with IoP Journal, Angela Gheller, director of Manufacturing, Logistics and Agroindustry, spoke about the strategies in supply chains, use of smart packaging and sustainability, involving diverse technologies, including Internet of Things (IoT) and radio frequency identification (RFID), in addition to 2D Codes, such as QR Codes.
Watch the full interview: click here.
Angela exemplified Totvs’ strategies with the case of Leal Indústria e Comércio, manufacturer of personal protective equipment (PPE), which managed to reduce by 20% the time for checking orders from its customers. The result was obtained thanks to the use of a radio frequency identification (RFID) solution developed by PC Sistemas, company from the Brazilian State of Goias acquired by Totvs in the last decade.
RFID Journal Brasil, precursor of IoP Journal, verified this case in 2017, with information that we republish below:
The PPE manufacturer manages a stock of more than 500 thousand items, distributed in two distribution centers: one in Campo Limpo Paulista (SP) and another in Navegantes (SC). There are 15 thousand active items and a total register of 60 thousand specifications. All this volume of products requires a very high level of control from the company, which is why Leal sought Totvs’ RFID solution to track its goods.
“Our portfolio is very diversified including clothing; safety equipment, such as gloves, parachute belts; between others. And one line is not necessarily related to the other”, explains Adailton Siqueira, systems manager at Leal. “With limited physical space, we happened to lose items inside the warehouse and we ran the risk of making wrong deliveries”. The increase in inventory control with RFID allowed for better service to external audits.
The solution uses two portals with fixed readers, located in the Receiving and Dispatch sections. “In Receipt, we use imported, manufactured or transferred products, which were stored in stock. On the other hand, in Expedition, we adopted billing notes when shipping”.
“With RFID, we achieved an optimization of 30% in the time of operations, with more speed of dispatch and transformation of products, in addition to accuracy in traceability, guaranteeing accuracy in the stock”, attests Siqueira, saying that, after the adaptation period, there was also a 15% improvement in order picking; 20% at the conference; and 15% also when checking the grade.
Before, the process was completely manual. “With RFID, we carried out an inventory involving 2,200 pallets, which was impossible before”, completes Alain Levy, managing partner of Leal’s operations. Leal’s products leave its premises with the tags. “Our intention is to help our customers to adopt RFID for the control of PPE that will be used by their employees”.
Another need of the company that was met by RFID technology was the control of expiration date of the articles already marketed that remain with its customers. As they are products that involve the safety and physical integrity of users, PPE has a predetermined shelf life and, in some cases, needs to undergo routine inspections.
“This functionality ensures that our customers and their employees are protected from accidents, in addition to reducing the risk of non-compliance in occupational safety audits”, explains Jacques Levy, commercial director at Leal. With the RFID system, companies that buy from Leal will be notified, in their systems, that inspection and expiration deadlines are approaching.
The implementation project had three phases. In the first, audit, investment was made in inventory control, focusing on inventory in a specific line of gloves and insulating blankets. 15,000 items were tagged with RFID tags. Then the information was checked to see if there were undue variations.
In the second stage, improvements were made in the fabric roll purchase process. RFID tags identify each roll, which is 170 meters each, and points out how many meters have already been used in production and how many are still being returned to stock. In the third phase, the raw material enters the warehouse already identified with RFID and the exit has a conference with the same technology.
“In the verification test, we identified opportunities to optimize our process. Due to the way the pieces are stored, especially in the case of clothes, the conference can be divergent. That’s why we decided to redesign our storage to improve the productivity of the operation”, says Siqueira.
The implementation brought more developments and the company’s next steps will be to adapt and improve the internal labels for each type of product and standardize the use of RFID according to the EPC (Electronic Product Code) GS1 standard.
“Totvs works to be more than a technology supplier, but a partner in the development of the customers’ business. The project developed at Leal showed that the choice of a tool like RFID can bring improvements in a company’s processes, giving space for it to grow and gain more competitiveness in its segment”, says Gustavo Bastos, vice president of supply chain at Totvs .
“Deploying RFID was a positive experience. In fact, there were all kinds of experiences, as RFID is made up of hardware, software and tags, which have at least three different suppliers”, says Siqueira. “Therefore, when there is a problem, it is difficult to coordinate a resolution with the three suppliers at the same time. It is in charge of the conciliar Leal. The challenge is still to read pallets with RFID and with total reliability. We still have problems reading pallets in the portals”.
