Alien Technology® RFID Implementation Delivers 30% ROI to International Textile Manufacturer Simet, an RFID Integrator, Recently Deploys UHF/EPC Compliant RFID Solutions for Leading Italian Textile Manufacturer

MORGAN HILL, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Alien Technology Corporation, an industry leader for Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) products and services, in partnership with Simet, proudly announces the world’s first EPC-compliant fabric roll tracking application at Griva S.p.A. Based in Torino, Italy, Griva is one of the world’s leading textile manufacturers. As a result of implementing the Alien® RFID reader and tag system almost 10 months ago, a 30% return of investment has been realized in the form of time management savings and increased traceability of the fabric rolls.

Griva is a textile industry leader which produces over three hundred thousand rolls of fabric every year, provides finished fabrics for upholstery, drapery to leading European retailers such as Leroy Merline, and Quelle.

“An improvement in our productivity was critical to our ongoing competitiveness,” said Gualtiero Casalegno, president/CEO and owner of Griva. “Until recently, we could not accurately control the contents of the roll using bar code technology. By implementing an EPC-compliant fabric roll RFID tracking solution, we have reduced expenses, saved time and improved customer satisfaction with our finished products. In less than one year, we have seen an ROI of 30% in just over nine months.”

Griva transforms the raw thread materials from suppliers into fabric, which is then washed, dyed and dried. Once the fabric is finished using weaving machines, the automation process must assure that the correct fabric roll undergoes the correct treatments and processes. The solution involved Alien Technology’s Alien 8800 UHF passive reader/writer and EPC-compliant Gen 2 Squiggle® tags. The Alien tag and reader combination offer optimal read range and read consistency performance. Simet also provided the reader-to-ERP interface middleware to Griva’s ERP software. As a result, Griva can now trace the fabric roll at the onset of the production process right until shipment.

The RFID implementation overcame all the problems Griva had to face in order to guarantee traceability during the phases of production and logistics. With regard to logistics, the tag passed the “plastic film” test that previous methods hadn’t been able to pass because the film hid the bar code. This method therefore made it possible to track pieces that are already packaged and ready for delivery; saving time and providing customers with more accurate information.

“The environment of a textile manufacturing process is very challenging due to high temperature at the shrink wrap stations, water and high humidity levels, and harsh chemical agent present during the dying phase,” said Claudio Bertoldo, Marketing Manager at Simet. “Griva needed a robust RFID system with complete fabric roll traceability, but without being intrusive to the production process, something that Alien Technology was able to deliver to Simet and Griva.”

”With Simet’s help, Griva has discarded their bar code systems and is now using RFID tags and readers exclusively to track their fabric rolls,” said Stephen Crocker, Director of Channel Sales for EMEA and India for Alien Technology. “Simet’s integration expertise has made the Griva a showcase for RFID success within the textile industry.”