TRISTAN operates an internationally famous group of gourmet restaurants with an extensive wine cellar. The immense inventories stored in three warehouses were becoming a logistical challenge to properly manage.

TRISTAN turned to TRAZA and Nordic ID to help design and imple- ment a radio frequency identifica- tion (RFID) system that would enable fast, accurate and agile identifica- tion and traceability of inventories. TRAZA specializing in developing solutions related to automatic iden- tification and traceability, while Nor- dic ID is a pioneer and market leader in handheld RFID reader technology.

HIGH-RISK MANUAL TRACKING Prior to the adoption of the RFID system the wine cellar was operated manually, which required an enor- mous investment of time and labor. The three warehouses multiplied the difficult task and it was always running a risk of breakage due to handling of the bottles. In addition, it was not possible to provide updat- ed inventories, which could lead to shortages and a negative effect on service and sales. The tracking and inventory control was done manually in the cellar, with a lot of manipula- tion that brought a high risk of error. PROJECT REQUIREMENTS The objectives of the RFID pro- ject undertaken by TRAZA were to streamline internal processes relat- ed to inventory processing, product locating, minimization of product handling, and order processing. The aim was to create an RFID system that would allow the wine cellar staff to quickly and with minimal physical contact, locate any bottle through- out their entire facilities.

THE SOLUTION TRAZA designed and implemented a system of identification and trace- ability of wine bottles using RFID ultra high frequency (UHF) technol- TRISTAN operates an internationally famous group of gourmet restaurants with an extensive wine cellar. The immense inventories stored in three warehouses were becoming a logistical challenge to properly manage. ogy. Other technologies such as barcodes were deemed insufficient. Unlike bar codes, RFID technology enables the reading of information contained in the chip without be- ing in direct sight. In addition, RFID enables reading multiple tags simul- taneously, which is not possible with objects identified by bar codes. The conditions and requirements were to integrate the solution with the management system of the restaurant and the use of reusable tags, small size and with strong per- formance at long reading distances, and a strong attention to aesthe- tics. TRAZA set about to accomplish these aims and designed a custom label that fits perfectly on the neck of the bottle and matches the image of the restaurant. The Nordic ID Merlin UHF RFID Cross Dipole mobile computer was chosen as the RFID tag reader due to its excellent reading results, strong support, and accreditation. Communication with the restaurant management system is done in real time using wireless 802.11 b/g com- munications.

REALIZATION OF BENEFITS TRISTAN has quickly begun to see benefits from its implementation of RFID technology with improved in- ventory control of their wine cellar, rapid search time for bottles, mini- mized errors and the elimination of handling bottles during inventory processing. TRISTAN has now be- gun to use the RFID system to aid in the processing of orders and de- liveries to other restaurants in the group they manage. IT manager for the TRISTAN group Mr. Damià Frau summarizes the benefits they have seen with the new RFID sys- tem: “With the system developed by TRAZA and the use of the Nor- dic ID Merlin mobile computer, we have incredibly improved our inven- tory times and, in addition, we don’t need to manipulate the wine bot- tles. We have definitively improved our wine cellar management and control, with more than a thousand varieties of wine.”