RFID Pot Stakes

Product Summary Sheet

Starport Technologies has developed a durable and thermal transfer printable RFID Pot Stake. The 20 mil Styrene RFID Pot Stakes is being proven at sites across the globe and can be printed with a modified Zebra Thermal Transfer Printer.
Many Nursery’s grows seedlings that sell to wholesalers and retailers that, in turn, raise the plants until they are large enough for the consumer market. During busy seasons, the company typically sells as many as 30,000 trays of seedlings per week. The nursery’s are employing RFID to identify the disposable plastic trays it sows with seeds—mostly floral annuals, as well as some herbs—then uses the technology to track the inventory and movement of those trays throughout its greenhouse, and to expedite the shipping of seedlings to its 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 any loss during the growing process, thus making it that much more difficult to track their 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 been leading to great efficiencies than 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, means mitigation of 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 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

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