Fairfield develop technology-based solutions to increase manufacturing and supply chain competitiveness.
Historically a very successful label and bar code company, Fairfield have found that in the last few years and more specifically in the last twelve months, there is an increasing focus on cost and service competitiveness, especially as more organisations are looking to bring operations on-shore. Can costs be saved by increased efficiency in inventory management, tracking bins of components around the manufacturing site and giving organisations real-time information as to which manufacturing stage products are at? Can efficiencies be made in the supply chain using faster track and trace solutions?
Historically, many organisations have used bar codes to manage and report on manufacturing operations – however, there are a number of disadvantages in using this technology:
- Bar code readers need to see the bar code to be able to read it
- Only one bar code can be read at a time
- Bar code quality sometimes can affect the read rate
Fairfield offer bespoke solutions using RFID and Real-time Location Systems (RTLS) which can offer significant advantages over traditional inventory and product track and trace operations, ultimately increasing competitiveness and contributing to cost reductions. For example, some of the benefits of RID are:
- Doesn’t need line of sight – tagged products within a box can be accurately read quickly without opening the box
- Many tags can be read at the same time – up to hundreds of tags per second
- If used in a manufacturing line environment or logistics operation, tags can have new data re-written to them automatically as they go through their cycle, both in manufacturing and throughout the supply chain to the end-customer.
Fairfield are seen as a specialist within the RFID and Track & Trace sectors and in assisting a diverse range of organisations in managing cost and efficiency through use of technology.
And labels? We still make lots of labels to support an equally diverse customer base!