Roll out of Avery Dennison RFID solution for shirtmaker Seidensticker

International shirt manufacturer Seidensticker, based in Bielefeld, Germany, has selected Avery Dennison radio frequency identification (RFID) for its labels. 

The decision, which reinforces a business relationship that goes back 20 years between the two companies, makes Seidensticker another major player in the global textile apparel industry that is starting to use RFID technology. Avery Dennison's RFID solutions are used by apparel retailers and manufacturers to help control inventories, improve supply chain efficiency and reduce lead times and costs.

‘We’re confident that our RFID solution will have a major impact in helping Seidensticker run a highly efficient supply chain – from their factories and distribution center to their customers,’ said Thomas Willing, managing director of Avery Dennison Central Europe.

As part of the agreement, Avery Dennison will supply approximately one million RFID labels in 2009, with another four million Seidensticker shirts being labeled with tags using RFID technology in 2010. Eventually RFID tags will be used in all 13 million shirts produced annually by Seidensticker under its various brands.

Until now, the shipping boxes for the Seidensticker distribution center in Bielefeld were prepared in the company’s factories. Sometimes packing errors meant that the actual contents of the box did not match the items required on the packing list. RFID allows incorrectly packaged goods to be identified and corrected before they reach the customer, thus reducing transport and packing costs for the manufacturer. In addition, Seidensticker’s large customers, who already use RFID, can benefit from the technology in their own processes thanks to the integrated Gen2 RFID tags. Systems integrator for the overall solution is RF-it Solutions, based in Graz, Austria.

The Inlay AD-826 being used by Seidensticker is a new development by the Avery Dennison RFID Division. Detailed item information for each tag is sent via a proprietary Avery Dennison web portal from Seidensticker to the appropriate Avery Dennison service bureau location in Hong Kong, Vietnam, India and Germany. The tags are then printed, encoded and delivered to the Seidensticker factories to be attached to the finished garments. In the future the new RFID tags will virtually rule out any costly packing errors, says the company.

‘The use of barcodes has long been standard practice for manufacturers, but RFID offers much more,’ Willing added. ‘The technology allows data to be captured and sent easily to a computer without having a direct line of sight to the label. It works by storing information in a microchip which is integrated, along with a super-thin antenna, as an inlay within the label and emits a high frequency radio wave containing the product information.’

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