Magellan Technology tracks diamonds for New York Diamond Merchant

Favorite Diamond Inc., New York — a large diamond manufacturer — uses an RFID system based on Magellan's PJM (Phase Jitter Technology) RFID technology to manage and control its diamond inventory. With the help of Magellan's RFID solution, the time and effort needed to frequently run an inventory has been reduced dramatically — from several days each month down to a couple of minutes using minimum labor. The Magellan RFID system was installed by Klein Brothers Computer Services, Inc. and uses PJM StackTag® RFID labels and the Small Batch Tunnel Reader MTR-1310 from Magellan Technology complying with the worldwide RFID standard ISO/IEC 18000-3 Mode 2.

Favorite Diamond Inc. has a very large inventory of many different diamonds with different and unique combinations of color, shape, clarity, weight, and measurements. The diamonds are stored individually in small envelopes stacked tightly together in long, thin trays, each containing approximately 100 envelopes. Previously, Favorite Diamond used a barcode system, which was cumbersome, labor intensive, and inaccurate to run an inventory on its diamond stocks. The barcode process required the removal of each envelope from the tray for individual scanning. The checks would involve many people and took several days each month during which time productivity would fall. The barcode labels also became dirty and damaged due to excessive handling, sometimes becoming unreadable. The inaccurate inventory led to problems with sales and purchasing performance.

Each diamond envelope is now given its own unique identifier in the form of an RFID tag based on the PJM StackTag® technology. Magellan Tunnel Readers are installed at the main storage facility and at all process points. The procedure now is that all trays of tagged envelopes are identified when they move into or out of the secure storage facility and at each processing point. As diamonds are removed from the secure area, each tray is read and assigned to a responsible person. These details are recorded and tracked to provide a real time audit trail. As the diamonds move around the manufacturing and sales process, they are re-read and assigned to other people as needed. At the end of the day, the diamond trays are returned to the central storage facility and a report shows the location and history of all handling of the stones. A complete audit report is maintained and the stones are managed securely in real time. The time and labor required to manage this entire process is negligible as trays containing 100 envelopes can be read in less than a second each with 100% read accuracy every time, no matter how closely the envelopes are stacked. Magellan's PJM StackTag® technology allows tags to be stacked with zero separation and still work reliably.

As a result of using RFID, Favorite Diamond no longer shuts down operations while checking inventories. It continuously tracks the diamond stock levels and knows accurately the position of the goods at all times. Favorite Diamond purchases with greater accuracy because, knowing exactly which stone classifications are needed. Stock levels of diamonds, and hence their financial position and liability, are much more reliable, allowing the company to perform its business functions with better focus, reliability, accuracy, and timeliness. Missing merchandise is now a thing of the past as well, as diamonds are now checked at each process step; the system showing the last location of all diamonds together with the name of the person responsible. None of this required any significant change to existing business processes except that an RFID tag was added to each diamond envelope. Visit Magellan at www.magellan-rfid.com.

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