We need no introduction of Dutch flower auction company FloraHolland that trades flowers to some 4,000 horticulture traders everyday at its Naaldwijk facility. It is also true that RFID technology is not new to the flower company since it has been working with the RFID technology for the last fours.
Due to technical problems in the earlier RFID system, FloraHolland is now gearing up to undertake to a new RFID project in collaboration with system integrator Atos Origin, and RFID software provider, GlobeRanger. The prime aim of the project is to ensure both move flowers more efficiently and collect more data regarding the production and their movements as they move in the facility.
Better known, the Naaldwijk facility of FloraHolland is one of the largest commercial warehouses in Europe with size of one million square foot. A large number of trucks reach the facility very early in the morning say 4 am. The employees are attending them. In flower business, time is very important because the flowers must be on their way to buyers in few hours of their arrivals.
The new RFID system includes several loop antennas attached in the floor to track when a tractor pulling trolleys loaded with flowers and rolls towards the auction floor. These antennas inspect the Texas Instruments ISO 18000 134.2 KHz passive tag embedded in each passing trolley.
