An RFID-enabled automated warehousing systems

It has been seen a rising trend in recent years for online shopping businesses across the UK. Customers prefer to place their orders online to purchase goods and ordered goods are dispatched directly from regional warehouses (or distribution centres) to customers’ door steps. A number of studies through a literature review indicated that future generation warehouses may be designed and implemented as more centralised distribution centres as this is the most cost-effective way to run businesses of this form for many larger manufacturers, suppliers or retailers. These companies have therefore been seeking for even more efficient and effective methods for storing, picking and dispatching goods in increasingly centralised distribution centres in which a novel design of warehousing systems is desired. This paper presents a framework of an RFID-based management system as part of a proposed future generation warehouse design through application and integration of fast-growing IT technologies (radio frequency identification (RFID) tags, wireless sensors and communication networks) to maximise the warehouse capacity and achieve a better visualisation and real-time visibility of inventory control and data handling management.