FloraHolland, the word’s largest flower auction company,
has implemented the pilot stage of a radio frequency identification
(RFID) system from GlobeRanger and Atos Origin.
The auction firm houses flowers from 7,000 growers in a
warehouse the size of 100 football fields. Each day 100,000
trolleys of flowers are shifted from place to place to meet the
demands of 4,000 dealers and exporters, trading through 26 online
auction ‘clocks’ or via FloraHolland’s direct sales force.
FloraHolland’s chief information officer Hans Uithol said,
“State of the art RFID-enabled information technology means that we
can considerably improve the service to our customers. Our
RFID-enabled park is growing rapidly, currently using more than 250
devices. It is vital that we have a reliable control infrastructure
to manage it.”
The RFID system is designed to capture the location data of
flowers in moving trolleys and make it available to the auction's
IT systems and staff. Flower trolleys and tractors have been fitted
with RFID tags, while RFID loops have been embedded in the
warehouse floor.
