How Can RFID Technology Be Applied In Japanese Apparel Industry?

Japan put forward the national strategy of Internet of things very early, and put forward the "U-Japan" plan in 2004, which included

The application of technology in various industries.

Throughout the world, Japanese companies use the Internet of things technology to promote information technology, which is very characteristic of almost every aspect of people's daily life, especially in some typical industries and areas, such as consumer electronics, books,

Construction machinery, pharmaceuticals, intelligent pportation, telemedicine, audio-visual education, etc.

This paper takes Japanese garment enterprises as the research object, and analyzes how to use the Internet of things technology to promote the development of enterprise informatization, so as to provide reference for the development of Chinese enterprises' informatization.

1, Japan's "U-Japan" plan and the development of the Internet of things.

In 2004, Japan put forward the national informatization strategy based on the Internet of things, called "U-Japan".

The term "U" refers to the English word "Ubiquitous", which means "ubiquitous and ubiquitous".

The idea of U-Japan strategy is to realize the connection between people and people, things and objects, between people and things, namely 4U (Ubiquitous, Universal, User-oriented, Unique).

The strategy is to generate a new generation of information technology revolution and realize the ubiquitous convenience society. Internet of things technology is an important part of realizing the "U-Japan" strategy.

In Japan, the technology of Internet of things has penetrated into people's clothing, food, housing and travel.

For example, the home appliances network system launched by Panasonic Corp can download the recipes through the mobile phone for the owner to view the food stored in the fridge, so as to determine what dishes to buy, and even allow the cooker to cook rice automatically through the Internet.

Japan advocates digital housing. People can freely enjoy all kinds of information services through the wired communication network, the digital television network of satellite TV station and the mobile communication network, no matter in the house, outside or in the car.

The clothing industry is no exception. The Internet of things technology based on RFID has been widely applied in the raw material collection, design and processing, logistics distribution and marketing process of the garment industry.

This paper focuses on the application of RFID Internet of things in Japanese apparel industry.

2. Application mode of RFID Internet of things in Japanese apparel industry

Basic concepts of RFID

RFID is a non-contact automatic identification technology. It automatically identifies target objects and gets relevant information through radio frequency signals. It can accurately identify moving objects in various states, such as static, mobile or even harsh environments without manual intervention.

RFID technology has the characteristics of small volume, large capacity, long life, penetrating power, reusable, fast reading and writing, location and long-term tracking. It has great potential in food safety, quality management, manufacturing supply chain management, intelligent pportation and so on.

The function of RFID tag is much stronger than that of barcode, faster reading speed and more accurate reading quality.

RFID technology is widely used.

Management field.

In this workflow, RFID technology is adopted from manufacturing links, distribution links to retail links, and the information of each object can be reflected in the information base in time. This information pmission mode greatly improves the operation efficiency of the enterprise supply chain.

Implementation plan of RFID implemented by METI, Japan's Ministry of economy and Industry

(1) the new situation facing the development of Japanese apparel industry.

In the new situation of increasing imports, expanding retail space and increasing customer preferences, the Japanese apparel industry is facing more new challenges. How to manage a thriving industry has become a top priority.

First of all, the trend of industrial globalization has made clothing supply chain management more and more complex. To some extent, it is almost impossible for us to know where a particular garment is produced. Secondly, with the continuous expansion of retail stores, the probability of poor management of commodities is greatly increased. Thirdly, the fashion elements of Japanese apparel industry are changing rapidly, and diversified and personalized demand is increasing.

These are destined to the development of the garment industry has strong instability and challenges.

(2) METI promotes the application of RFID in the apparel industry.

In the face of the new international economic situation, the Japanese Ministry of economy and industry (METI) vigorously promotes the application of RFID technology in the clothing industry. It combines with the gold products company, and has appointed its RFID application experiment to improve the IT efficiency of the textile industry through the standardized RFID system.

In addition, METI also promotes RFID programs to many industries.

The gold products company has participated in the large-scale IOT technology application test in Japan's clothing and textile industry.

The company has the right environment for running the RFID system.

It is a large enterprise with millions of dollars in assets, dedicated to import and export of steel, machinery, metals, textiles and foodstuff, and has various sales channels, including branch warehouses, specialized warehouses and multiple retailers.

The gold product is trying to find a better RFID plan, which integrates the existing information system installed at the distribution center, store and enterprise headquarters.

Through the RFID application experiment, finally, Sebes chose the "RFIDAnywhere" as the gold product, because it can integrate the existing system of the company, and will not change the existing application function in the process of joining with all kinds of RFID devices.

(3) SPA scheme based on RFID.

The SPA (SpecialtyStoreRetailPrivateLabelApparel) mode, "the clothing industry" which runs the exclusive brand specialized shop, is an integrated way that the enterprise owns its own brand and is responsible for the planning, design, production and retail from the commodity planning. It has the characteristics of "direct paction with the final consumers and real-time mastery of market demand information".

It was put forward by the American GAP company and was successfully applied and promoted in Japan world clothing corporation.

The key of SPA mode is "having perfect information and logistics network". Therefore, IT system is an essential technical support for the development of SPA, and the information system based on RFID Internet of things is also becoming an important support and key technology of SPA in garment industry.

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Global supply chain management of garment enterprises based on RFID Internet of things technology

(1) analysis of logistics service characteristics of different commodities.

Different goods have different characteristics of logistics service.

According to the specific characteristics and scale of the goods to be supplied, Japanese clothing enterprises choose different supply modes to better improve the visibility and punctual delivery rate of supply chain management.

Generally speaking, according to the quantity of supply commodities and the visibility of supply chain, the daily main commodities can be divided into 4 categories.

For example, electronic products, watches, jewellery and other commodities are of high value, small size and low delivery time requirements. The supply service of such goods can adopt the "inventory replenishment mode". Clothing, popular objects, vegetables and other commodities have the characteristics of high quantity and high delivery time. The supply service of such commodities can adopt the "direct distribution mode of distribution centers" to better ensure timely delivery and accuracy.

(2) the global supply chain structure of Japanese garment enterprises.

The supply chain structure is an open-loop structure, from the "foreign factories customs inspection - domestic distribution centers - shops or branches" throughout the process, each link of the supply chain has been applied RFID technology.

Every garment made in Japan's overseas factories is labeled with a single grade label at the time of leaving the factory. After being packaged into a box, it is labeled as a package grade label. After customs inspection, it can reach the consumers in Japan through pportation, warehousing, sorting, distribution, distribution and sales activities.

In the entire operation of the supply chain, enterprises can collect a large number of related information of clothing circulation, which is processed through the "single level RFID tag information -RFID database - Data Mining and retrieval" process.

First of all, the RFID tag information collected from a large number of single garments is stored in the RFID database, and then various effective state information of clothing is obtained through data mining, which can provide help and support for business intelligence. In addition, it can also efficiently search and obtain rich information resources.

3, IT system architecture diagram of Japanese garment enterprises

Through the IT device, customers can complete the cashier payment process on their own, and get the coupons in real time, automatically accumulate points to membership cards.

In addition, the invoice printer can automatically identify customer's shopping documents and automatically complete the invoice printing service.

This greatly reduces the waiting time of customers queuing, improves customer satisfaction, and reduces the labor intensity and efficiency of workers.

This self financing way is a win-win development mode for businesses and customers.

Visibility and efficiency of supply chain have been greatly improved.

RFID technology plays an important role in the integrated management of apparel supply chain, product inventory management, location tracking and POS computing.

Through the RFID Internet of things technology, the important node enterprises in the apparel supply chain can quickly and timely get the effective information of clothing, realize the visual management of all links in the supply chain, improve production efficiency, reduce logistics costs, and optimize the allocation of resources.

After the implementation of RFID technology, all members of the supply chain, such as suppliers and retailers, can benefit from it, and closer cooperation and efficiency will also be enhanced.

In recent years, RFID has brought great benefits and significant performance improvement to Japanese apparel industry, mainly in the following aspects.

(1) for raw material manufacturers, it means faster inventory turnover and better supply capability; (2) for manufacturers, it means efficient processing, faster capital flow, faster pportation speed and better service for customers; (3) for distributors, it means higher pport efficiency, more accurate delivery capability, stronger cargo tracking level and great cost savings; (4) for retailers, it means faster processing process, less out of stock phenomenon, more intelligent and concise operation process and better customer service level.

In particular, in response to the backlog caused by the backlog of goods, they will negotiate with suppliers to take measures such as returns.

(5) for the staff of an enterprise, no matter what color and volume the product is, it can instantly acquire its status information by using RFID, which can reduce labor intensity and save time.

Nowadays, the application of RFID technology is everywhere. In the apparel operation management system, it is used to process and allocate data between "internal distribution management system" and "store management system".

Each garment in the distribution center is affixed with a RFID tag. The pport inspector scans and checks every part of the clothing according to the replenishment order from the distribution management system. The shipping inspector scans the batch of clothes with the touch-screen computer and the special reading device, averaging 5 clothes per time. He focuses on what clothes in the package.

Print the packing list and put it into the garment packaging box. The new RFID label is attached to the packing box, and then pported and distributed.

Through RFID devices distributed everywhere, the enterprise information management system receives tens of thousands of clothing data information every day, which is pmitted to the information management subsystem of the relevant stores.

Therefore, in shops, distribution centers and RFID tag systems equipped with RFID devices, no matter where the clothes are in the supply chain, they can be quickly and accurately positioned.

The application of RFID technology in garment industry is continuously improving the logistics flow and efficiency management of clothing.

The goal of intelligent business management is realized.

RFID Internet of things technology can help enterprises to achieve intelligent management of business, so as to maximize the profit of enterprises.

The warehouse management system can automatically get information about the utilization rate and operation cycle of different warehouses, so as to help warehouse managers formulate the best inventory and supply plan for goods.

Intelligent sales management.

A professional store sensor is often placed between the front and rear parts of a store to track activity information of each garment.

The sales system can automatically obtain when clothes are on the shelves, where they have arrived, what status they are in, when they replenish their goods, etc., and automatically issue early warning according to the sales situation. At the same time, the sales manager can make a clothing arrangement scheme conducive to better sales by making statistics on the influence of customers' attention, trying and buying, and the different sales situation caused by different hanging positions of clothing in the shopping malls, so as to enable the shop assistants to adjust the position and space level of the clothing in a timely manner.

In addition, through the RFID system, manufacturers and designers can understand the user experience effect of clothing, statistics the actual sales situation of fashionable styles, statistics the probability of customers trying and buying a certain garment, and analyze the reasons why a certain clothing item has been passed through, but ultimately has not been bought, which helps designers understand customer psychology and design clothes that are more suitable for market demand.

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It is also more convenient for customers to try on clothes in smart fitting rooms.

When customers are trying to wear the style or size of the clothes, they can use the smart display screen to search for more suitable styles, sizes or stock information in the fitting room, and can communicate with the outside clerks so as to select and try on the satisfactory garments and improve the efficiency of the purchase.

For example, the fitting room of the Flandre store in Japan makes all customers feel fresh and exciting, surrounded by glass curtain walls. In fact, these glass curtain walls are all electronic display screens.

When the customer enters the virtual fitting room, a virtual designer will greet him on the wall of the electronic screen. The designer will help the customer to analyze the characteristics of body, skin color and temperament, provide matching clothing, and display it on the electronic curtain wall in real time.

When the customer chooses the curtain wall, the overall image of the customer wearing the matching clothing will appear on the electronic screen, so that customers can see the overall effect after trying on their clothes without having to bother to strip and dress.

Such smart fitting rooms attract many brands to join in order to improve customer satisfaction.

The accuracy and efficiency of inventory management are significantly improved.

Having high accuracy and efficiency is the key to enhance inventory management capability and enterprise decision.

So far, some examples show that RFID has played an important role in promoting the accuracy and efficiency of enterprise inventory management.

RFID technology has improved the accuracy of inventory, reduced the number of sold out or unsalable goods, reduced the amount of buffer stock, optimized the critical value of repeat orders, and saved a lot of shelf space.

The warehouse with RFID technology has been increased by more than 3-8% without the implementation of RFID technology, and the stock taking speed of retailers has increased by more than 20 times, and the accuracy of inventory data has increased by more than 30%.

The implementation of RFID technology has greatly improved the accuracy of enterprise inventory management, and improved the punctuality, efficiency and accuracy of customer service.

At the same time, a good inventory management level has directly stimulated the growth of sales volume, and has a positive impact on the development of enterprises.

Whether in spot stores or online stores, they are faced with how to control inventory effectively.

In replenishment, the warehouse can get all kinds of RFID encoding information in real time, grasp accurate market demand information, and get reliable data support through scientific methods.

When the inventory level is low, the warehouse can automatically generate replenishment orders, ensure efficient warehouse operation, and provide dynamic control for warehouse inventory control according to market demand.

The whole track of single and finished garments is more convenient.

The electronic chip is installed in every garment on the clothing label as the carrier. Every label of clothes can be tracked by the RFID system. Therefore, clothes can be queried quickly and timely either on the shop display rack or in the packing box of the warehouse.

As long as the customer needs it, the salesperson can quickly learn the color, style, size, location of the target clothing and other information through the electronic code reader, so as to provide more considerate service for the customers.

All kinds of related information of products can be conveniently and timely acquired through RFID technology. This makes the operation efficiency of enterprises and their global branches from production, distribution, circulation to inventory control greatly improved.

For example, the Japanese Sanjing group used RFID technology to track the location of clothes automatically, quickened the garment making process and avoided the occurrence of shortage.

The FlexNet system was installed and integrated by San Yang management technology (ToyoBusinessEngineering) in 2007 for Sanjing group.

Foreign manufacturers of garments, Japanese stores, warehousing and receiving, the entire process of RFID encoding information is scanned through a reader and pmitted to a computer connected to the FlexNet platform.

After the customer orders, the garments are ironed, snailed, checked, swept again, and a series of work processes, and then enter the delivery area.

If the clothes are inspected, they will be returned to the return area, and the coding information will be eliminated.

When the garment is loaded from the loading area to the pport vehicle, it needs to sweep the code again to get the state information of the garment.

The entire logistics process of clothing is in the monitoring and tracking of RFID system. Retailers can directly place orders and check the state of goods directly. The system saves a lot of time for employees of Sanjing group.

Diversified and personalized service capabilities further expand

In modern sales, members, points, promotions, promotions and discounts are changing rapidly.

When customers enter the retail shop, it indicates that the purchase probability is greatly improved. Timely delivery of the latest information to customers can rapidly increase the rate of single purchase.

When customers are interested in trying clothes, the system can prompt customers' consumption history, such as brand, preference style (sports and occupation), personal basic information, such as suitable clothing size, and so on, to help sales staff better serve customers.

After the customers leave, the shopping mall system can continue to communicate effectively with customers. When the goods of suitable customers are present, notify the customers in time.

For example, when customers wear Prada clothes through their stores, the RFID system will control the display in the store and play the model on the T stage to show the same costumes.

The use of this technology greatly increased the sense of accomplishment of consumers after purchasing Prada products.

When providing these services, department stores will also consider the customers' feelings. If customers do not need the information, they can choose their own configuration and close the prompts.