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RFID in Jewellery Management System

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RFID Tracks Jewelry Sales, Inventory in Mideast

Fifteen retail locations in the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Bahrain have begun using a system that tags and tracks jewelry items.

-- RFID Journal, May 18, 2006

Issues faced by Jewellery Company or retailers

v Tracking and monitoring of precious jewellery items, boxes or pouches is difficult.

v Since many jewellery displays are set up daily and then stored in safes in the evenings, there is

ample opportunity for Threat of theft or loss of product. Weak security

v Time consuming inventory checking.

v Huge requirement of manual power.

v Difficult to manage information related to the Jewellery items.

v In-effective contemporary technologies.

v Due to the fluctuation in jewellery value as the price of gold fluctuates; the insurance costs of inventory can vary. It is critical to maintain accurate inventory in order to maintain accurate insurance records.

Jewellery is one of the most valuable assets that people possess. A jewelry company faces a tremendous task of maintaining, and accounting for tens of thousands of jewelry items in a single store. Most of the jewelers track inventory on daily or weekly basis. This is often a completely manual process, which requires handling of each jewelry item separately, and is therefore, very time consuming and prone to errors. This type of inventory tracking may lead to misplacement, loss or even theft. In a premium business such as this, even a small error or loss can be significantly expensive. Huge amounts can be lost due to inefficient and slow inventory tracking. RFID technology offers unique possibilities to the challenges facing the jewelry industry. RFID based jewelry tracking system enables tracking inventory via multi-scanning and therefore instant stock update while increasing the staff productivity. The convenience the technology offers also implies the feasibility of running near real-time monitoring of jewelry goods everyday of the week, thereby heightening security throughout. Moreover, by automating these processes, the Jeweler can focus on his core business, viz selling Jewelry.

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How the Technology Works

Ø Each piece of jewellery like bangles, earrings etc and

other assets in the shop are fixed with a passive RFID tag before being placed on display as shown in Figure 2.

Ø Tags are embedded with the important data related to the jewellery like Unique identification no, type, weight, date of manufacture, quality etc. It raises an alarm is it is tampered with.

Ø Readers are installed within the shelves, at the entry and exit point of the shop, and in front of the safe door.

Ø At the beginning, while allocating jewellery item

which is being kept in the locker directly to the sales person RFID enabled tray is used.

Ø Each sales person is issued an RFID badge which is

used to log their activities on the main server and enables them to access the jewellery without setting off any alarms.

Ø As soon as the jewellery item is placed on the tray it

is linked with the sales person whose name is already been entered in the system as shown in Figure 3.

  “Since implementing Motorola’s RFID solutions in January 2008, there have been no internal thefts, providing Jade Jewellery with an ROI of approximately 400%. Prior to implementing DEPCO Systems’ RFID solution, missing items would go unnoticed until a month or two later. Periodic inventory done manually usually took 2-3 working days to audit all stores, costing valuable company time and resources. With the new RFID system, it takes about 10 minutes to audit the entire stock.” --Mrs. Sukaina H. Mackie, Owner, Jade Jewellery

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Figure: 1

Figure: 2

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Ø When a mobile display tray is put on the viewing

table, it is monitored by an antenna installed in its mid section until it is returned back on the shelf or display case. Any abnormal behavior in handling the goods while executing operations such as sales, transfers, consignments or safe replenishment will set off an alarm.

Ø Handheld reader is used to identify the jewellery

item by just sweeping the reader over the items without removing the item. As reader finds the item it was searching, it starts blinking giving an indication that item has been located as shown in Figure 4.

Ø At the end of the day, the remaining number of items

is returned back by the concerned sales person to the locker with the help of the same tray. The difference in both the records is calculated and matched with actual sales of the day.

Ø RFID tag, Shelf, Tray details and RFID badge issued

to sales person are loaded to the centralized server & the movement of the item can be tracked & displayed on the screen as shown in Figure 5.

Indiana Jeweler Uses RFID to Track Its Trinkets

Peter Franklin uses 13.56 MHz tags to take inventory of its stock, eliminating a process involving manual counting and bar-code scanning, and the associated human error.

-- RFID Journal, Aug. 9, 2006

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Figure: 3

Figure: 4

Ø The system validates the committed goods going

into the locker with a dedicated antenna in front of the safe door, confirming the transfer before being cut off as the safe door is closed.

Ø When the jewellery item is sold, price details are

entered in the system & tag is de-allocated & same tag can be reused for another item which reduces the cost.

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Jewellery Server where jewellery details are stored

Tag attached to jewellery

RFID enabled tray

Handheld reader

Figure: 5

Figure6: Work flow of Jewellery Management System

Benefits of RFID in Jewellery Management

v 100% return on Investment (ROI).

v Easy, fast, accurate and convenient inventory management and stock control.

Perform daily inventories of all stores instead of once per month.

v Easy to track & monitor all the precious items.

v Eliminate gaps between recorded inventories and physical inventories.

v Instantaneous auditing of in-store inventory.

v Real-time view of in-store operational activity.

v Illegal movement of items outside the store raises an alarm at appropriate places.

v Less human involvement so near zero error.

v Sale of jewellery will automatically update the database and maintains the preset level of stock. Thus avoiding the ‘out of stock’ situation.

v Painstaking and time consuming process of scanning individual items is removed by RFID thereby increasing the staff productivity by ten to fifteen times.

v Increase in customer delight i.e. cross selling, customer loyalty, and better service.

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What IAITO can Provide

Why you should select IAITO Infotech as your partner

• We understand the RFID Technology, Solution and have knowledge of the

Industry with the top Notch IIT Kanpur R&D engineers who are having more than 5+ years experience in the same domain.

• Our understanding about the RFID Business Values & ROI Realization is with 15+

years experience business people in team.

• We provide High Quality Product & Testing process (ISO 9001: 2008 Certified Company).

• We Have High Techno Commercial viability – ROI.

• Indigenous Setup (Design, Developed & Tested in world class RFID lab of IIT

Kanpur).

• We have Local Support & Strong Partner Network Framework to ensure better support.

1. Defining the software and hardware requirement study (SRS & HRS). 2. Integration of hardware and software in lab environment.

1. Understanding the requirement with end customer/partner. 2. Visiting the end customer/partner site and studying the system & IT Infrastructure with demo.

1. Justifying the business value of RFID in Jewellery Management System. 2. Calculating the ROI (Return on Investment)

1. Full telephonic & Email support. 2. Preventive Measurement Support. 3. AMC & Warranty Support.

1. Fully fledged training conducted by IAITO people to Site operation person. 2. Training will be conducted to the management & Admin.

1. Customer site deployment of the hardware & software. 2. Testing the System. 3.Commissioning the system.

Business Case Development

Site Analysis

Design & System Integration

Training

Implementation

Customer Support

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Conclusion Jewellery, diamonds and other precious stones or any high value item require a constant monitoring of their whereabouts. RFID empowers the jewellers with a set of integrated management tools that manages every aspect of a jewellry retail & wholesale business. RFID Technologies is able to identify and monitor large quantities of small items in real time, in display trays and cases or diamonds in small envelopes tightly stacked in boxes. RFID has captured the attention of many leading companies today who are making significant investments of money and time to make this technology feasible in their operations. About IAITO INFOTECH PVT LTD (ISO 9001:2008 certified) a company incubated in IIT Kanpur (one of India’s best educational institute) and is one of the pioneer and leading design house of high end technology products, mainly in Enterprise RFID and its allied space. IAITO’s series of novel RFID products (hardware/software) is being indigenously designed and tested in world class R & D facility of IIT Kanpur. Our innovation cycles are planned to comply with Global Regulatory Standards/Protocols (ISO/EPC) and for easy integration flexibility along with cost competency. Our products are used in different verticals like Retail, Automation, Aviation, Healthcare & Pharma, Manufacturing, Logistics, Power and Government Industries. With our strong Alliances Business Model (ABM), we work very closely with our system integrators and technology partners for each project. For more Information kindly visit our website http://www.iaito.co.in/ IAITO INFOTECH (P) Ltd. SIIC, IIT Kanpur, U.P-208016, India Phone: +91-5123926630 / +91-5123926660 Fax: +91-5122596177 E-Mail: info@iaito.co.in Web: http://www.iaito.co.in

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