RFID, automation and warehouse robots
From barcode to radio waves and self-driven shelves
The barcode made it possible to identify a product with a scanner instead of a handwritten book. RFID and automation are the next steps in the same evolution: to make the warehouse's data even faster, more accurate and less dependent on a person manually pointing a scanner at each individual item.
§How does RFID work?
RFID stands for Radio Frequency Identification. An RFID tag contains a small chip and an antenna that transmits data via radio waves to a reader. Unlike a barcode, RFID does not require direct line of sight between tag and reader, and a reader can in many cases read multiple tags simultaneously at a distance — e.g. all goods on a whole pallet in one scan, instead of each package having to be scanned individually.
§Advantages over barcode
- 01Faster registration because many units can be read at once.
- 02No requirements whatsoever
- 03Better real-time overview of inventory, location and movements.
- 04Fewer manual scanning errors because the process is automated.
§Automated High-Bay Warehouses
In an automated high-bay warehouse (often called an AS/RS, Automated Storage and Retrieval System), cranes or shuttles move back and forth in narrow aisles and retrieve or deposit pallets and boxes without a person entering the shelf aisle. Other systems work on the principle of "goods-to-person": instead of a picker going to the goods, a mobile shelf or robot brings the goods to the picker's fixed position. This saves aisle time and can significantly increase picking speed on warehouses with many similar orders.
§The person does not disappear
§When does automation make sense?
RFID and automated solutions typically cost more to establish than barcodes and manual picking, and the investment pays best where volume is high and tasks are uniform — e.g. large distribution warehouses with many repeated orders. No matter how automated a warehouse becomes, it is still the warehouse management system (WMS) that ties it all together: it is the system that knows what is where and guides both people and machines through the warehouse flow.
The technology changes how goods physically move through the warehouse but the basic principle is the same as with the first barcode in 1974: the better the data matches reality, the more efficiently and error-free the warehouse runs.