The main purpose of using classical RFID technology is to ensure contactless and accurate collection of information, as well as processing of data on the movement of goods in the warehouse.

The classic version of using RFIDRFIDtechnology in warehouses involves marking all elements with radio frequency tags. This means that tags are applied to warehouse zones, rack cells and all goods located there. Signals from these tags can be read remotely, manually or automatically. Consequently, there is no need for physical contact between the reader and the tag.

Unfortunately, this technology is not yet widely used in some countries. This is primarily due to the cost of RFID tags, which ranges from tens of cents to tens of dollars, while the cost of barcode labels is significantly less.

Technologically, this solution looks like this.

The goods arrive at the warehouse, are accepted, and marked in the usual way. When pallets of goods are formed, information about the goods placed on a given pallet is entered into the radio frequency tag. Once the pallet is formed, it is sent to the permanent storage area. The forklift driver learns about this zone thanks to information received from the RFID tag. This information is obtained using readers located on the forklift's forks, which automatically capture information from tags within a 3-meter radius and display it on the screen of the mobile terminal installed on the forklift driver. After confirming acceptance of the pallet on the terminal, the driver sends it to the storage location.

When a pallet is placed in the final bin, the bin tag is automatically read. The bin number in which the goods are placed is displayed on the terminal. If the pallet is placed in the correct bin, the forklift driver confirms this, and the goods transfer task is completed. If a pallet is placed in the wrong bin, the terminal will emit a beep indicating the error, preventing the driver from confirming the placement and completing the task.

Warehouse picking occurs in reverse order. First, the RFID tag of the bin from which the goods are being picked is read to verify the correct picking. When the pallet is moved to the loading/unloading area or to another storage bin, the tag from the new storage location is also read. When the goods are shipped, a worker reads the RFID tag of the pallet to verify the correct quantity. If one of the tags is damaged, manual entry of information is possible using the familiar barcode system.

Thus, the use of RFID tagging technology increases the speed of product placement because the driver does not have to leave the forklift cabin to scan the barcode. Picking and shipping speeds are also increased due to the elimination of the need to scan barcodes. Errors are eliminated, since if the product is incorrectly positioned, the system will not allow the transfer task to be completed. Warehouse personnel do not need to have any special knowledge – the forklift driver only needs to confirm transactions at the terminal.