JAS Italy Enhances Productivity, Nullifies Errors with Zebra RFID
Founded in 1978, JAS Italy is a global leader in the transport market, specialising in import, export and supply chains. With 22 branches in Italy and presence in 50 countries, it serves various industries including energy, pharma and fashion.
Zebra Success Story: JAS Italy
Overview: Transportation & Logistics Challenge
JAS needed to automate and digitalise warehouse operations, streamline processes and enhance efficiency through the seamless integration of its RFID technology and its warehouse management system.
Benefits / Outcomes
- Reduced warehouse error count to zero (crossloading, missing cargo)
- 100% accurate package loading
- Acceleration of loading operations
- Improved efficiency and productivity
About JAS Italy
Founded in 1978 in Milan, Italy, JAS (Jet Air Service SPA) is an industry leader in the international transport market. From its origins more than four decades ago, JAS is now a key player in the international sea and air transport network, specialising in import, export and supply chains. Headquartered in Segrate (Milan) JAS has 22 operative branches in Italy and a proprietary network active in 47 countries all over the world.
Logistics on such a scale introduces a complexity that is unparalleled. At JAS, 533 employees help ensure that the Automotive, Projects, Energy solutions, Aerospace and Pharma industries – among many others – can keep going without interruption. Achieving this is no easy task, and JAS relies on cutting-edge technology to empower operations.
“Our company mission is to deliver customer value with passion, at every interaction, across the globe,” says Paolo di Tullio, Business Process Management Specialist and member of the newly formed IT and Digital Transformation group at JAS Italy. “We swear by our five company values to do that – family, integrity, excellence, innovation and community.”
But how does an internationally recognised logistics powerhouse ensure that such critical values are translated into how it runs its business?
“In an ever-changing business landscape, JAS stands out by harnessing the power of digital tools and solutions,” explains di Tullio. “Our commitment to innovation drives us to develop cutting-edge technologies that help optimise our supply chain processes, improve visibility and provide real-time insights into our operational procedures, all with the goal of making life easier for our colleagues and better for our customers.”
To live by those values, operations must be absolutely streamlined. “We rely on technology that benefits our management of warehouse procedures and enables us to reduce human errors,” di Tullio explains. “We handle hundreds of thousands of packages at our Segrate location alone; error risk is very real. We needed a way to manage our warehouse operations automatically and digitally by interfacing with our current operating system.”
The Challenge
The previous warehouse procedure at JAS was based on visual checks of item markings with subsequent verification on loading documents printed by its operating system. There was an employee who checked the markings on the goods – all manually and all on paper. There were some shortcomings with the process admits di Tullio.
Leonardo Baldi, JAS Italia CEO, quickly realised that the company needed a more efficient and consistent way to accurately track incoming goods through an RFID solution. RFID technology, among other things, helps businesses to automatically monitor the movement of goods. “Our technology partner HT Stone – a company implementing auto ID, RFID, RTLS and networking solutions to improve IT processes – introduced us to Zebra Technologies, and we knew we were in good hands,” says di Tullio. “We’ve effectively reduced errors thanks to Zebra and HT Stone.”
With our new warehouse procedures, we can uniquely identify every parcel passing through our warehouses, and verify it’s every movement. We can also verify the shipment loads via sea and air, as well as manage the transfer of goods between our warehouses. The main benefit of the new RFID procedure is the realtime verification of what the warehouse operator is doing as opposed to what we gain from just a visual control, according to the type of task that is being performed.
The Solution
Zebra and HT Stone - Zebra Premier Business Partner - equipped JAS with Zebra MC3300 mobile computers with integrated circular RFID antenna readers, as well as Zebra TC52 mobile computers across eight warehouses. JAS also replaced its existing industrial label printers with Zebra ZT411 RFID printers to accurately and efficiently print and encode RFID labels.
“We can now print and tag our own RFID tags, which is a game changer for us,” says di Tullio.
For JAS, the big advantage to using Zebra is that all Zebra handheld devices are powered by Android™. A standardised use of Android on all devices ensures familiarity and ease of use, while leveraging the capabilities of the Android ecosystem. JAS uses the MC3300 with RFID-enabled readers for shipment tracking and control, which reconciles everything placed on the pallet for shipment. As for the TC52, in this instance it functions as a mobile computer for numerous use cases but is not used for RFID functionality.
The Zebra Difference: Outcome and Benefits
Thanks to its new solution, JAS has cut its warehouse error rate to zero.
But is that all?
Far from it. “Colleague feedback has been extremely positive,” says di Tullio. “There was a lot of anxiety among warehouse colleagues about packing accuracy and whether a container had been packed as intended, despite their own meticulous checks. Thanks to the immediate RFID checks we can now conduct, we can mathematically confirm that a package has been read and loaded. We have 100% certainty.”
Now, the Zebra RFID devices immediately verify the loading, unloading and handling of goods, informing the operator when the operation is complete or if there are errors.
“We’ve also improved customer relations because we can now create reports and analyses at a level of detail and accuracy that was impossible to achieve with the procedures used previously,” says di Tullio. “Importantly, these advancements haven’t added to the workload of our employees; instead, they’ve experienced a lightened workload. This outcome enhances our business competitiveness significantly. It’s crucial to note that our pioneering application of RFID technology in warehouse cross-docking, a domain historically limited to logistics and retail sectors, sets us apart. Through collaboration with HT Stone and Zebra, we have realised substantial business benefits from this innovative solution.”
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