Product Summary Sheet
Starport Technologies is now producing a durable, thermal-transfer-printable RFID Pot Stake. The 20 mil styrene RFID Pot Stake, that can be printed with a modified Zebra thermal transfer printer, is proving itself at sites across the globe.
Revolution of IDeas
Many nurseries grow seedlings and sell them to wholesalers and retailers that, in turn, raise the plants until they are large enough for the consumer market. During busy seasons, some companies typically sell as many as 30,000 trays of seedlings per week. Many of these nurseries are now employing RFID to track seed-sown plastic trays as they move through company greenhouses. This technology improves the tracking of inventory and helps expedite the shipping of seedlings to customers.
Without RFID the process of growing the seedlings and preparing them for shipment is daunting. Nurseries often plant approximately 20 percent more of a product than they require in order to account for loss during the growing process, thus making it that much more difficult to track the product. Because it has a short shelf life, much of the product excess is often discarded. In addition, identifying which types of seedlings are on any particular tray can be hard to do simply by looking at them. Some nurseries use bar-coded labels to track their trays. RFID, where implemented, has proven to be a great deal more efficient compared to standard barcode technology. 1
Advantages of RFID
- Multiple tags can be read simultaneously at high speeds, meaning faster, more reliable verification and inventory numbers.
- Line-of-sight is not necessary. Tags can be read through non-metal objects such as vegetation, boxes, and plastic trays.
Benefits for Customers
- The use of RFID in conjunction with software mitigates errors at time of packing and shipping.
- During packing, trays are identified electronically using RFID antennae, so only the correct trays can be packed for a given order and incompletely packed orders are immediately spotted and corrected.
- Box contents labels are printed and placed on each box, along with tracking numbers for shipments. Advance shipment notification is sent directly to the broker’s office, and to the customer via email. Everyone knows what is being shipped and when it is scheduled to arrive. Tracking numbers are immediately available for FedEx shipments.
1. http://www.rfidjournal.com/articles/view?4933
