Tracking returnable transport items (RTIs)
Benefits
Maximise the use of RTIs and prevent assets getting lost or stolen
Returnable Transport Items (RTIs), used to transport produce, products or parts from one location to another, are essential assets for virtually any manufacturing and logistics company. Keeping track of your RTIs can be challenging, especially when logging their location depends on manual processes like scanning. If RTIs land in the wrong location or cannot be found, the movement of goods or raw materials becomes difficult or impossible which can cause delivery or production delays. Despite our reliance on them, many businesses lack visibility over the availability, whereabouts and quality of their RTIs and find themselves shelling out considerable sums each year to replace those which have been lost or damaged.
With typical annual shrinkage rates of 3 to 9%, having to continually replace your lost or stolen RTIs can have a serious impact on profitability. Therefore, through pallet tracking, tote box tracking and stillage tracking for example, better visibility right through the supply chain is provided and enables better utilisation of these returnable assets. This means you can reduce pool stock levels as there is no need to maintain the just-in-case items due to having the ability to know the who, what, where and how many.
How does RTI tracking work?
To track returnable/reusable transport items, we use radio frequency identification (RFID), BLE, UWB or other tracking technologies to help improve the management of assets. Our specially designed solution identifies individual pieces of equipment and tracks them across different sites to ensure they are in the place where they are needed.
Each RTI is fitted with a tracking tag. The unique identification numbers of RTIs fitted with a tag are then detected by a small number of strategically placed readers. Advances in technology mean that it is no longer necessary to install readers at each doorway or choke point.
Location information is sent back to the central RFiD Discovery database where it can be analysed. This database allows you to determine how many RTIs have been despatched to a particular supplier or customer so you know which trading partner to contact for their return.
Integrating the RFiD Discovery system with your ERP system provides company-wide visibility of your RTIs ensuring that required assets are available at the appropriate locations to fulfil any transportation request.
Case Study Video - Tracking RTIs in the fishing industry
Discover our RTI tracking solutions for fish markets
Download brochurePotential savings you can achieve
RFID tracking of asset pool operations is a proven solution to deliver a quick return on investment (ROI). Tagging assets allows for automation of paper work associated with despatch and receipt, so you can optimise transport for the collection of your assets and improve your service levels. Reducing the levels of lost reusable transport packaging can allow you to invest in higher quality RTIs which provide longer life cycles.
Saving example
A major supermarket chain has a pool of 250,000 roll cages, each worth approximately £120. With better pool management using RFID tracking they identified that they could remove 10% of roll cages from stock which are currently kept as a reserve pool. This over time frees up a total of £3m in capital. In addition, better tracking of RTIs reduces their typical current annual shrinkage of 7% (17,500) roll cages by 10%, a further saving of £210K per annum.
Find out how to track your returnable stillages, tote boxes, roll cages, pallets & trays through the supply chain
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