Improving Visibility in the Cold Storage Warehouse with RFID, and ROI in 6 months!

Improving Visibility in the Cold Storage Warehouse with RFID

Karen Reece, Vice President, Eskimo Cold StorageAnthony J Dublino, Dir. Commercial Business, N America - Jamison RFID

Who is Eskimo ?• Eskimo Cold Storage handles all types of frozen foods ranging from

poultry to seafood- with the ability to blast freeze products and have ready for shipment the next day.

• Our focus is on customer service made evident by 24/7 availability, Eskimo Cold Storage also offers exporting and real time inventory tracking.

• A company built on decades of experience and a love for the industry, Eskimo Cold Storage employs the latest technology to deliver the highest quality service.

• We have 10.9 Million Cubic Feet of space with 32,000 pallet positions- which are 7 levels high.

Eskimo Technology Overview…

• Eskimo Cold Storage originally used a WMS bar-code tracking solution to manage our inventory…

• By installing an RFID inventory tracking solution, we then further:– Improved our inventory visibility– Decreased search time for lost pallets– Increased productivity operations over 50%.

Warehouse Layout…

Receiving Area…

64 Receiving / Shipping Docks

Inside the operation…10.9 Million Cubic Feet

High Bay Warehouse

Running 2 Shifts

X 6 days per week.

How Cold is it ? 0 to -25 degrees Smurfette Michael Myers

The Problem…

• Mis-handled Pallets (at Put away) = • Lost Pallets (at Picking)• $25,000 per year in Chargebacks– Vendors (Lost, Late or Missed Shipment)– Demurrage– Freight

• Customer “TRUST” becomes an issue…

Eskimo Data…1• 20 Trucks per day• 24 Pallets per Truck• 480 Pallets per Day• 290 work days per year = • 139,200 Pallets Processed per YEAR• 3% or 4176 Pallets per year are mishandled• 32,000 Pallet Positions - Total• 600 Pallet Positions per Aisle

Eskimo Data…2• Lost Pallets (at Picking)– Pallets handled per year = 139,200– 3% pallets misplaced = 4176– $ per hour per worker $12.50 (includes benefits)– Picking Cost per “Normal” pallet (avg.) = $3.13– Time to find misplaced pallet = 4 hours (Average)– Picking Cost per LOST pallet (avg.) = $50– LOST Dollars per year = $50 x 4176 = $208,800– Chargebacks per year = $ 25,000

The Solution…1• RFID at Pallet Level

The Solution…2• RFID System located at the end of each aisle.

The Solution…3• Time to find ANY Lost Pallets is <10 minutes

The Solution…ROI

• RFID Tracking at the end of each aisle gave a “Confirmation” of which aisle was used for pallet storage. – Cost of the RFID Solution = $100,000– Chargeback Savings = $ 25,000 (year)– Misplaced Pallet Savings = $208,000 (year)– TOTAL Savings = $233,000 (year)– ROI for the RFID Solution 4.3 Months

Karen is HAPPY

Anthony J DublinoJamison RFID(a division of Jamison Door)[email protected]

Questions are cool!

Karen R. ReeceVice PresidentEskimo Cold [email protected] ext 223