Automated tracking of RTIs movement with Rain RFID
In the Client’s supply chain, returnable containers are shipped on full pallets from an empties warehouse to the supplier, where they are filled with automotive parts and components that are then shipped to the manufacturer’s assembly line. Once the parts in a container have been consumed, empties are shipped on mixed pallets to the warehouse (often operated by a third-party logistics company) where they are sorted, treated, and refurbished. They are then reloaded on full pallets and are ready to ship out again to the supplier. In this system, there are several nodes where containers check in and out.
The SmartX HUB combines RFID technology with a robust cloud software platform that provides up-to-date, accurate inventory and supply chain information to help our Client with minimal time and labor.
The SmartX HUB processes for an RFID-enabled container management solution are fairly simple and straightforward. The Client places tags on all containers and plastic boxes. Reading the combination of container and insert tags allows the Client to determine which returnable container type is on hand. RFID readers are placed at the inbound and outbound dock doors of the empties warehouse, at the receiving and shipping docks of key suppliers, at sequencers’ and third-party logistics providers’ facilities if they are used, and certainly at the Client’s manufacturing facilities. As pallets of empty returnable containers leave a facility, tags are read by handheld and associated with a specific routing (shipment) so that the Client knows to which supplier the returnable containers are going and how many.
Once the truck is loaded, all transaction-relevant information is passed from the RFID Handheld to the asset management application, where the information is permanently stored and available for reporting and analysis. Naturally, a reconciliation between a returnable container order in a backend system and the asset management application or in the SmartX HUB RFID middleware can be automated to a point where the warehouse manager receives an instant alert when too many or too few containers are about to be shipped to the supplier.
Once the truck arrives at the supplier’s facility, RFID Handheld will perform a second scan of the empty returnable containers and allow for a second reconciliation of what has been shipped. If the same containers do not show up at the manufacturing site within a reasonable time, then it is the supplier’s responsibility to account for their whereabouts.
