Research On Tobacco Logistics Management System Based On RFID And GIS

There are many problems in the current tobacco logistics management in China. For example, the level of logistics information technology is low; it is unable to trace the tobacco volume and flow; the transportation is scheduled by man-power with low loading rate, long distance of unloaded transportation and high cost; there is also a lack of system to visualize the management of material traceability. Therefore, when quality problems occurred, there is no way to either trace the cause rapidly or seal problematic materials on time. It has become a research hotspot to apply the modern Internet of Things (IoT) technology into the supply chain of tobacco management throughout.This study, taking the supply chain from the acquisition of tobacco to the storage in warehouse as the research object, attempts to explore RFID, GPS and GIS technology in the application of tobacco logistics information system. The research consists of three aspects:1) RFID-based tobacco tracking module;2) GPS-based logistics scheduling module; and3) GIS-based quality retrospective module. Tobacco tracking module realizes the identification and tracking of cigarettes, monitors inbound and outbound status in warehouse and provides basic data of material flow for other modules. Logistics scheduling module can determine the reasonable amount of transportation, plan the shortest path and determine the optimal transfer process so that it could provide data for transportation track. Quality retrospective module visualizes the management as it is able to show material flow in supply chain on GIS map, and draw transport trajectories.Some modules in the IoT-based tobacco logistics management system developed by this study, have been applied in production, and achieved tobacco tracking, vehicle scheduling, quality retrospect visualization as designed. This study constructs the intelligent tobacco supply chain with IoT technologies, and provides the tobacco companies with effective and accurate information for decision making. It enhances product quality management, optimizes risk management, brings up the level of logistics services, and subsequently improves competitiveness for tobacco companies.