## 4 Materials and Methods
Based on the literature review regarding the possible benefits of RFID application, this study focuses on the following main improvements:  
* Cycle time: the number of overall processes may be reduced by the automation of quantities and documents reading/writing, including data entry, verification, and reporting in the receiving, packaging, and shipping process [9];
* Service quality: Accurate inventory information, enabling efficiency measurements in real time [44];
* Process improvement: reduction of errors, fast checking of quantities, documents matching, zero paperwork [17]. Table 5 summarizes the results of this step by showing the analysis of process requirements at each stage of the logistic processes. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c c c c} \hline \hline \multirow{2}{*}{**Supplier**} & \multicolumn{4}{c}{**Plan**} & \multirow{2}{*}{**Final Customer**} \\  & & & **Production Company** & & & **Final Customer** \\
**Fullfill** & & **Acquire** & & & **Build** & & **Fullfill** \\ \cline{2-9}  & \multirow{2}{*}{**Receiving**} & \multirow{2}{*}{**Treatment/Drying/**Cooking * **} & \multirow{2}{*}{**Packaging**} & \multirow{2}{*}{**Shipping**} \\ \hline
**Supplier** & **Fruits** & & & **Acquired** & **Fresh** & **Cooked** & **Multinational** & **National** \\
**ID** & **[tons]** & **Scraps** & **Acquired** & **[tons]** & **[tons]** & **Fresh** & **Cooked** & **Firms** & **Distributors** \\  & & & & & & & **Fresh (70\%)** & **Cooked** & **(55\%)** \\ \hline
1 & 500 & 1\% & 495 & & & & id & [tons] & id & [tons] \\
2 & 745 & 2\% & 730.1 & & & \#Packages & & & \\
3 & 210 & 1\% & 207.9 & & & 67,600 & \#Packages & & \\
4 & 750 & 2\% & 735 & 676 & 138 & & 27,600 & 1 & 250 & 1 & 75 \\
5 & 400 & 1\% & 396 & & \#Pallets & & & & \\
6 & 680 & 2\% & 666.4 & & & 2103 & & & 225 & 2 & 53 \\
7 & 250 & 1\% & 247.5 & & & & & 3 & 201 & 3 & 26 \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 4: VCOR configuration and quantities processed. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c} \hline \hline
**Process** & **Requirement** & **Error Detected** \\ \hline Fruits storage & Inventory level & +7\% \\ Fruits Identification & Quantities identification based on processes & \(-\)11\% \\  & (Fresh/Cooked) & \\  & Quantity of bags & & \\ Fresh packaging & Quantity of pallets & \(-\)8\% \\  & Inventory level updating & & \\ Cooked packaging & Quantity of pallets & \(-\)4\% \\  & Inventory level updating & & \\ Storage & Sorting pallets & & \\  & Inventory level updating & & \\  & Quantity definition & \(-\)5\% \\  & Pallets picking & & \\ Fresh shipping & Finished products inventory level updating & \(-\)6\% \\  & Invoice emission & & \\  & Shipping identification (customer) & & \\  & Quantity definition & & \\  & Pallets picking & & \\ Cooked shipping & Finished products inventory level updating & & +1\% \\  & Invoice emission & & \\  & Shipping identification (customer) & & \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 5: Process requirements identification. From Table 5, it can be argued that the main issue of the company lies in product identification and the management of inventory levels at the origin of the SC, where the fruits are separated with regard to fresh/cooking processes. The proper and accurate control at this phase contributes towards avoiding mistakes in updating the inventory level, that may yield bullwhip effects and errors in the other SC processes. Table 6 shows how the shipping identification errors are double for fresh fruits than for cooked ones. This may be due to the manual counting errors resulting from packages overlapped on the unit load. By process analysis, some basic key performance indicators (KPI) were identified and linked to (i) the blocks of the VCOR and (ii) to the basic specifications of the RFID system. In this phase, different types of RFID tags and reading systems have been investigated toward the definition of tailored solutions for each VCOR block and process.