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India based Viraj Profiles Ltd., a globally leading manufacturer of stainless steel profiles, has successfully streamlined its logistical operations with an RFID technology implementation. With exports to more than 80 countries from multiple manufacturing facilities and warehouses, logistic efficiency is crucial.

Viraj Profiles Ltd. set several goals for its RFID implementation. These included gaining precise real-time location data for all steel profile bundles, fast and accurate bundle retrieval, preventing expensive erroneous shipments, faster inventory and reduced labour costs. By implementing an RFID solution from Vicinity RFID Solutions into its operations - with UPM Raflatac ShortDipole UHF tags and Psion Teklogix UHF Handheld Readers - the company achieved all its objectives as well as a return on investment in just six months.

The large steel profiles are packed in heavy bundles weighing some half a tonne each. The bundles were previously marked with a hand-written code and randomly placed in stacks in the warehouse surroundings, depending on the available space. Finding the right bundles for each shipment took a lot of time and effort and was logistically challenging.

As the first step to resolve the issue, Viraj Profiles Ltd. divided each of its locations into individually tagged zones. Next they started tagging each bundle with UPM Raflatac RFID tags with a serial number printed on the surface for visual identification. Data concerning the bundle and location tags is now easily readable with Psion Teklogix's Workabout Pro handheld RFID readers.

For a quick inventory of the whole warehouse, location tag data from each zone is combined with data from the bundle tags in that zone. The data is then stored on a server when the handheld readers are docked to a computer, minimizing the chance of human error and providing a 99% inventory visibility. All this takes about an hour instead of the 12 hours it used to take before the RFID implementation.

Packing lists provided by the company's SAP system now also include up-to-date location details and serial numbers for the bundles, accelerating accurate shipments and providing electronic proof of dispatch. In fact, Viraj Profiles Ltd. reports a respectable 20% increase in dispatches.

For further information, please contact:
Mr Edward Lu, Sales and Marketing Director, Asia, RFID, UPM Raflatac, tel. +65 9173 0884 Mr Vikas Modi, Director, Vicinity RFID Solutions Pvt. Ltd. India, tel. +91 9320068035 / 9821221978 Mr Nitan Chhatwal, Managing Director, Viraj Profiles Ltd. India, tel. +91 2525 279702

About UPM Raflatac
UPM Raflatac, part of UPM's Engineered Materials business group, is one of the world's leading suppliers of self-adhesive label materials and the world's number one producer of HF and UHF radio frequency identification (RFID) tags and inlays. UPM Raflatac has a global service network consisting of 14 factories on five continents and a broad network of sales offices and slitting and distribution terminals worldwide. UPM Raflatac employs 2,600 people and made sales of approximately EUR 1 billion (USD 1.4 billion) in 2008. Further information is available at www.upmrfid.com.

About Vicinity RFID Solutions Pvt. Ltd.
Vicinity RFID Solutions Pvt. Ltd. is a highly focused company in the UHF RFID domain. Vicinity has a total RFID team experience of 25 man years. The middleware - Agile, developed in-house - is the company's flagship product and helps to turnaround quickly during POC and subsequent implementations. Vicinity RFID Solutions delivers complete end-to-end solutions which cover the definition, design, implementation-integration, delivery, up-gradation and maintenance of RFID solutions customized for large business domains. Further information is available at www.vicinityrfid.com.

About Viraj Profiles Ltd.
Viraj Profiles is synonymous with stainless steel globally and is one of the world's largest producers of stainless steel long products. The company is also the world's largest producer of stainless steel flanges. Today, Viraj's operations are spread over four continents with more than 9,000 employees working for a brand with an annual turnover of USD 1 billion. Viraj is a fully integrated producer: from the melt shop to the logistics company, all phases of production take place in-house. Further information is available at www.viraj.com.