Alan Field | Mar 24, 2009 1:06PM EDT
Ringnes, Norway's largest brewery, today announced that the company is using RFID technology supplied by IBM to achieve greater visibility into its logistics operations, and improve service to Norwegian retailers and consumers.
Ringnes, a subsidiary of the Carlsberg Group, is using RFID-based sensors that enable the brewery to track the arrival, departure, loading and unloading of each container at its Oslo facility. The RFID-enabled sensors capture all data linked to the plant's 40 loading gates. Employees in the facility can access a complete view of the trucks and containers inside the shipping and receiving terminal, as well as their load status. Ringnes can quickly determine whether a trailer or container is on or off site, how long it was parked at the facility, and when it was loaded, unloaded, and driven away.
In addition, the Ringnes brewery can quickly spot and resolve bottlenecks in its logistics operations and address them in order to speed deliveries, the company said. In the past, Ringnes employees have tracked containers using manual logs. The exact location of a truck could only be determined visually or by phone. Manual maintenance of such large operations can lead to errors and bottlenecks.
Ringnes said also that it is considering extending the system to its four other locations and integrating it with the company's other logistics systems. In the future, Ringnes plans to use RFID tags on its individual pallets to track the movement of specific products to retailers, not just on a container level. This will improve the company's ability to help customers maintain the right amount of each product and respond quickly to changes in customer demand.
