LOGISTICS
Insourcing Logistics with RFID: Malìparmi
In collaboration with Malìparmi
Malìparmi is a women’s fashion producer based in Albignasego, Italy. Founded in 1978 as a small leather goods workshop, the company has expanded from bags to apparel, shoes and accessories. Today, about 60% of Malìparmi’s 30 million euro ($38 million) annual revenue comprises clothing sales, with the remaining 40% encompassing bags and accessories. Malìparmi sells through multiple channels including wholesale, franchise locations, flagship stores and outlets.
Challenge
Malìparmi was initially based in the city of Padua at a location too crowded to accommodate a local Malìparmi warehouse. The company had, as a result, outsourced its logistics operations to a third party. However, in 2008, Malìparmi relocated its headquarters to nearby Albignasego, gaining 2,500 square meters of nearby land. In order to better monitor its storage processes, the company decided to join its third-party logistics operation with an on-site storage facility.
Malìparmi researched technological solutions to ease the insourcing process and implement a new organizational system for their warehouse. They sought a solution that could manage the tight schedule of the fashion industry (delivering spring/summer orders from January to March, and fall/winter deliveries from July to September), cut down on warehouse costs, and improve supply chain efficiency.
“RFID exceeded our expectations by reducing costs and increasing productivity and accuracy in the Malìparmi warehouse, allowing us to achieve ROI in one year.”
Enrico Vittadello, CEO, Malìparmi
CLIENT:
Malìparmi
> Italian women’s fashion producer based in Albignasego, Italy
> Founded in 1978 as a small leather-goods workshop
> Sells both from flagship outlets in Milan, Bologna and Treviso and through multi-channel retail
RFID BENEFITS:
> Dramatically reduced warehouse costs
> Increased control of goods and access to data
> Higher load productivity & increased order accuracy
> Improved quality control process
IMPINJ PRODUCTS USED:
Indy® reader chips
Monza® tag chips
Speedway® Revolution readers
Speedway® xPortal reader
LEARN MORE
Impinj
www.impinj.com
BTG Tecnologie
www.btgtecnologie.it
Malìparmi
www.maliparmi.it
An Impinj Speedway xPortal reader is positioned horizontally to quickly read tags in a single box during the picking process.
Malìparmi turned to BTG Tecnologie, a Milan-based RFID solution-provider, and RFID hardware from Impinj for the solution.
Malìparmi began an RFID pilot in July 2011 to estimate the overall effect of RFID with their warehouse working at full capacity. During the pilot, Malìparmi encountered some problems with damaged or unreadable tags, which proved difficult to immediately identify and replace, as the company first had to retrieve the garment information associated with the damaged tag. The solution Malìparmi chose needed to improve on these challenges while continuing to meet the original needs of the system.
How It Works
According to Enrico Vittadello, Malìparmi’s CEO, the company was initially unsure in which operations RFID should be used—management, goods repair, returns, etc. However, following the successful pilot, Malìparmi decided to incorporate RFID into all aspects of its logistics process. Now the entire Malìparmi warehouse is run by RFID middleware provided by BTG Tecnologie.
BTG’s middleware is connected to Malìparmi’s management system without any permanent and dedicated database. It works as an interface to help the workers manage all logistical processes in the warehouse.
Every single one of Malìparmi’s products is affixed with SmartRES tags containing Impinj Monza® chips. The tags are printed and encoded using Zebra Technologies printers powered by Impinj Indy reader chips. BTG took a couple steps to solve the tag read issues seen during the pilot. First, they modified the RFID parameters for the printers by reducing their transmit power in order to avoid or reject any tags with low performance. Second, BTG worked with SmartRES to improve the quality control process for the tags used by Malìparmi. These steps have led to nearly 1.5 million tags being read perfectly.
As tagged garments move through the warehouse, they pass through portals fitted with Impinj Speedway® readers, which record the garments’ information—production history, order information, etc. Garments on hangers are read when they enter or leave the Malìparmi warehouse through RFID gates. For picking operations for specific orders, items are placed on a cart and individually read at close range with a handheld reader. Alternatively for faster picking operations, garments are collected in a box and read by an Impinj Speedway xPortal reader. The reader is positioned horizontally to detect tags in a single box and ensure the right products have been picked for an order.
When shipping and receiving garments at their warehouse, Malìparmi sends information on a production order to the BTG Tecnologie middleware to track and verify the order’s movement.
To choose a production order, Malìparmi’s software system generates a “packing list” of garments, sending each garment’s order and production information to the middleware system, which then labels the items specific to the order and sets them apart from other garments. This creates an environment in which only the products on the packing list can be chosen and moved, allowing for more efficient and accurate transport of garments within the warehouse.
In addition, Malìparmi integrated RFID technology into their newly introduced quality control process. A sample of the garments arriving at the warehouse must be checked for quality and Malìparmi uses the unique ID numbers encoded in the products’ RFID tags to isolate those items and ensure they have been approved before shipping.
Malìparmi is currently working with BTG Tecnologie on integrating an application to handle returns, and plans to further collaborate with BTG Tecnologie to use RFID to provide customers with information about in-store products—such as production information and fashion show media—through multimedia messaging.
Benefits
The Powered by Impinj RFID system and middleware from BTG Technologie have enabled Malìparmi to completely insource their logistics processes and eliminate their third party provider, reducing storage costs and increasing control of goods and access to data. This was in part achieved because BTG’s middleware works well with Malìparmi’s ERP system and required little customization, enabling RFID to function directly alongside the warehouse’s logistical processes.
RFID technology has also increased load productivity by making order picking more efficient, leading to more accurate orders and faster transport of goods within the warehouse. Malìparmi has used RFID to improve quality control, ensuring that no substandard products are shipped. Overall, the system has led to a 25% reduction in manual labor at the warehouse.
Malìparmi employees bring garments into a warehouse through an RFID gate, where Impinj Speedway® Revolution readers enumerate and record each garment’s information into the BTG Tecnologie middleware system.