Similar to most businesses in production and retail supply chains, wine companies also face several hurdles when it comes to inventory, visibility on the stock levels, and keeping accurate tracking records of all the items coming –in and going out. Many wine companies from the Bordeaux region in France expressed concerns regarding quality tracking, from vineyard to bottle, and need a technological solution to managing temperature and humidity throughout the handling and transportation.
Wine making is a costly affair and having complete visibility on each packed bottle from warehouse to retail stores and ensuring optimum temperature and humidity levels is crucial to the business. Technologies like RFID, BLE, UWB, Barcoding, IoT Sensors, LoRa, etc. can help in this regard.
RFID in the Wine Industry
The use of RFID technology throughout the wine industry has become a common practice due to the myriad benefits RFID-based automation and track-and-trace applications provide.
Here are some of the advantages RFID asset tracking system offers to wine companies:
1.RFID technology leverages RAIN RFID Tags that provide a unique digital ID to every packed bottle and consignment. With this RFID ID number, it is easier to track and trace each item with great accuracy, from warehouse to distribution and retail channels.
2. RFID Readers are quite efficient and accurate and can scan 1300+ tags per second with great accuracy, that too without a clear line of sight. This kind of efficiency allows wine companies to audit the entire inventory, keep track of stock levels, and ensure EOQ (Economic Order Quantity).
3. In wine production, RFID technology can help ensure raw materials are always available and the production team is as efficient as ever.
Automate your business with RFID.
EnCstore offers all kinds of RFID Tags, Readers, and Antennas.
Quality Management in the Wine Industry with RFID
Another great problem that wine producers face is ensuring the quality of their wine production as every bottle produced is a testament to their century-old wine business. Whether it is a bottle of Merlot Bordeaux or Chateau, these businesses cannot afford to compromise the quality of their products.
To ensure wine bottles are always stored at optimum temperature and humidity, even during transportation and handling, Chipless RFID Sensors can be used. These tags are attached to wine packages and continuously capture the temperature and humidity levels around the wine packages.
Active RFID Sensors can also be used for this purpose. Since these tags have a battery as a power source, you get constant reading and can ensure optimum ambient temperature and humidity for all wine packages.
Preventing Counterfeiting and Theft of Wine Bottles
Missing wine bottles or counterfeit wine bottles in circulation are other two great issues that wine companies, wine distributors, and sellers often face. Imagine losing a crate or two of these high-value items during transportation or from the inventory itself.
To prevent counterfeiting or theft, dual-frequency RFID tags are used by many wine manufacturers and wine sellers. Dual frequency RFID tags support the NFC 13.56 MHz as well as RAIN RFID 860 MHz-960 MHz frequency readings, allowing anyone to read the tags on bottles with a smartphone or tablet that supports NFC reading.
Many wine producers use these dual-frequency RFID labels on the base of each wine bottle and help customers verify the authenticity of these bottles on the official company website, using the RFID ID of the bottle. While theft and counterfeiting are quite high when it comes to older bottles, many modern-day vintage bottles are also stolen or counterfeited. RFID anti-counterfeiting tags and RFID-based anti-counterfeiting systems however are quite efficient in preventing the counterfeiting of these high-value articles.
Tracking Wine Barrels with RFID Tracking System
Wine production and transportation require many crucial components and keeping a record of these assets such as wine barrels. Each wine barrel used by wineries contains a distinctive flavor profile and adds distinguishing attributes to the wine inside. RFID tags are attached to each barrel which gives them unique IDs. Wineries can use the unique RFID IDs of the barrels in their stock to keep track of their wine production and empty barrels.
QR Codes are also used in wine bottle authentication where customers can scan the QR Code label attached to the wine bottle and get a unique code for the bottle. Using this code on the bottle authentication portal of the wine company, customers can easily check whether the bottle is original or fake.
To summarize, RFID RFID-based asset tracking system and inventory management system allows wine companies to keep track of the stock at all times. It also helps them track the crucial tools like wine barrels that are an important component of wine-making for all wineries. Various Oak barrels are quite costly as well. RFID dual frequency RFID tags can be used to prevent the counterfeiting of valuable vintage wine bottles. Customers can simply scan the NFC tag on the base of the bottle and verify the authenticity of the same on the official website of the wine company and distillery.
Disclaimer: The information presented here is for general information purposes only and true to best of our understanding. Users are requested to use any information as per their own understanding and knowledge. Before using any of the information, please refer to our Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions.
