Largest Sock Manufacturer In Europe Uses Plastic Totes
GEL-AL, the largest sock manufacturer in Europe, process over twenty thousand plastic totes filled with socks on a daily basis. Read more about this here. Largest Sock Manufacturer in Europe Tracks Socks With RFID Solutions From STS and Alien Technology®
GEL-AL of Turkey Sees Significant ROI in Six Months
MORGAN HILL, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Alien Technology, a leader in Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) Ultra High Frequency (UHF) products and services, today announced that STS, a member of Alien Technology’s Value Added Solutions Provider (VASP) channel partner network, has successfully completed a closed loop, EPC compliant tote application for GEL-AL. As a result, GEL-AL, the largest sock manufacturer in Europe, has seen a 40 percent improvement in productivity at its Istanbul manufacturing site.
Based in Turkey, GEL-AL produces over 83 million pairs of socks annually for many of the world’s best-known brand names in sportswear. Each day at the company’s plant, approximately twenty thousand sock-filled plastic totes travel throughout the various production stations. STS, a leading RFID systems integrator in Turkey, equipped each tote with an Alien® high-performance UHF/EPC compliant M-tag (inlay), which has been converted into a plastic ISO card. Individual totes are pre-programmed with a unique asset code consisting of the tote ID number, the work order and the sequence number. There are twenty ‘read points’ within the facility, with roughly thirty totes passing the various reading points at any given time.
“Before we implemented a RFID tote tagging system, we used large sacks to transport the socks internally to the various work stations - using barcode labels on the sacks and manually scanning each tote, which was very time-consuming and not very productive,” said Mr. Aydin Dogan, GEL-AL’s IT specialist. “We outfitted Alien’s field-proven ALR-8800 at each read point, targeting about four meters of read range and the Alien RFID system is achieving 100% read performance.”
Alien’s RFID solution has eliminated the former line-of-sight barcode solution and dedicated personnel are no longer required to oversee the traceability of the sock laden totes.
“At GEL-AL’s flagship manufacturing site in Istanbul, the entire sock production is now completely automated with RFID,” said Levent Yalcinkaya, Technopark director for STS. “GEL-AL now has one of the most modern textile production facilities in Europe. The company is a technology-focused manufacturer that understands the advantages of enhancing productivity through its IT investments.”
“Alien has installed numerous closed-loop UHF EPC compliant applications throughout Europe, South Africa and Middle East over the past few years,” said Stephen Crocker, director sales/channels EMEA and India for Alien Technology. “Once the customer realizes the tremendous production control advantages UHF RFID solutions can provide over conventional data capture systems, the next logical step is to expand the usage by tagging at the item-level. STS’ integration expertise has made the GEL-AL deployment a showcase for RFID success within the tote industry.”
About GEL-AL:
GEL-AL is the largest sock manufacturer in Europe. GEL-AL manufactures socks for the world’s most popular brands. All manufacturing processes (darning, sewing, coloring, washing etc.), are held inside the company. GEL-AL manufactures about 83 million pairs of socks a year and employs 1,200 people. GEL-AL increases their productivity by investing in IT Technology and continuous training for their employees.
About STS:
STS Technology (www.sts-rfid.com) is the leader technology and solution provider using UHF RFID technology. STS is the VASP of Alien Technology. STS offers turn-key, state-of-the-art solutions for the customers to increase velocity and reliability in their operations and to use their resources effectively. STS’s corporate headquarters is in Istanbul/Turkey, research and test center is in Kocaeli/Turkey. STS Technology is a member of EPC Global.
About Alien Technology
Founded in 1994, Alien Technology is a leading technology and product provider of UHF Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) Integrated Circuits (IC), tags, readers and professional services. Alien Gen 2 products, along with software solutions from partners, help solve business problems for customers to improve productivity, processes, security and asset tracking for closed-loop and supply chain systems. These solutions are currently implemented in industries such as consumer packaged goods, retail, manufacturing, transportation, airports and cargo logistics, government and defense, and more. Alien’s patented Fluidic Self Assembly (FSA®) technology and related proprietary manufacturing processes are designed to enable the manufacture of high volume, low-cost RFID tags. Quatrotec, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Alien Technology, is a specialized professional services and technology firm that provides complete solutions to meet the sophisticated requirements of the transportation industry. Alien’s facilities include corporate headquarters in Morgan Hill, CA; RFID tag manufacturing facility in Fargo, ND; the Alien RFID Solutions Center in Dayton, OH; Quatrotec’s offices at the San Francisco International Airport (SFO); and sales offices in the US, Europe and Asia. Alien is a member of EPCglobal. For more information please visit www.alientechnology.com