Radio Frequency (RFID)

In your warehouse you probably use pocket PCs or scanners that communicate with your ERP application using Radio Frequency. Because your ERP system screens are programmed for regular desktop computer displays, you are often confronted with limited screen dimensions, making data entry more difficult. These screens have to be adapted to simplify the work and to make it more user-friendly.

Foodware

The Food and Beverage industry is characterized by specific requirements which can often not be catered for by a standard company-wide solution. For this reason Microsoft and its resellers have combined their many years of knowledge and experience into Foodware®. In combination with Microsoft Dynamics® NAV, Foodware® forms a fully integrated standard company-wide ERP solution specifically for food and beverage companies. Foodware is under continuous development and meets the latest industry requirements. This creates a specific solution, where costs remain manageable as the amount of customization is reduced to a minimum. Foodware has been recognized by Microsoft with the highest quality label: ‘Certified for Microsoft Dynamics’. Foodware consists of a number of integrated solutions, one of which is Foodware - Radio Frequency. This solution enables users to work more easily thanks to the fully adapted screens.

Radio Frequency via terminal server

The software has been developed so that the screens warehouse employees see are fully adapted to the screen format of their pocket PC or scanner. This makes working on these terminals simple and user-friendly. In the near future, it will be possible to integrate Radio Frequency with the Quality Control solution, so that quality inspection data can be entered into the system directly. However, this will only be feasible if the wireless terminal is a scanner or pocket PC and is linked directly to the Dynamics NAV database through a terminal server client. Warehouse employees work online in this database eliminating the need to synchronize data between the various systems; the Dynamics NAV database is always up-to-date because it is updated in real-time. The procedures for processing transactions for inventory storage, inventory picking, item classification and cycle counting with Radio Frequency are the same as the ones used on regular terminals.

RF Scanning

An integral part of the Foodware - Radio Frequency module is scanning pallet labels, enabling the item number, lot number and expiry date to be displayed. When inventory is put away in the warehouse, pallet labels are generated which will be scanned when the items are picked, reclassified or during cycle counting. This is processed directly in Dynamics NAV. For cycle counting transactions the new inventory count is entered directly in the scanner or pocket PC, and this is processed immediately in real time in Dynamics NAV.

Infrastructure

Foodware is based on a terminal server solution. The user starts a Dynamics NAV client on the RF terminal, which makes a direct connection with the Dynamics NAV server. The advantage of this compared to the ‘classic’ Radio Frequency solutions is that this does not require any external software, but it takes the user directly into Dynamics NAV, where all the company transactions are defined.

Radio Frequency in a .NET environment

Besides the standard Radio Frequency solution via terminal server, Foodware offers Radio Frequency through a third party specialized in RF-solutions. The advantage of this solution is that you do not need a terminal server, instead the wireless terminal is connected to Dynamics NAV directly by means of message queuing. This means significant savings in the costs of licenses required. With this solution, you can enter transactions, which are part of the logistics flow in your warehouse, directly via a pocket PC. Examples here are warehouse put-away and pick activities, inventory corrections, transfers, output, and consumption. Furthermore, it is also possible to enter certain container management transactions in this way.

 

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