Case Study: RFID tracks assets, prevents shipping errors

 

When a Western Canadian construction materials manufacturer needed help with tracking returnable containers and outgoing shipments, they turned to the expertise of Canadian-based RFID System Integrator, NJE Consulting, for help.

 

Asset Tracking: Returnable Containers

 

One of the issues facing this construction materials supplier was the tracking of high-value returnable containers. The containers themselves represented assets of considerable value, yet tracking them as they went out to customers and were (sometimes!) later returned was a cumbersome process.

 

 

Ultra-High Frequency (UHF) RFID Tags track construction materials

NJE Consulting implemented a system consisting of both fixed and hand-held RFID scanners that kept track of the valuable containers by readings special metal-mountable passive RFID tags.

 

Shipping Errors: A Thing of the Past

 

NJE Consulting installed a UHF RFID portal at the exit gate of the supplier’s yard. This portal reads tags affixed to bundles of construction materials as they leave the yard on flat-bed trucks. Custom-designed software compares the actual load of each truck against the scheduled load in the company’s shipping database, and immediately notifies yard staff of any discrepancy via a clear visual signal. Staff can correct the problem, thus avoiding the cost of returning the incorrectly shipped materials, and re-shipping the correct ones.

Similar-looking construction materials such as PVC pipe have distinct specifications: a recipe for shipping errors. RFID tracking virtually eliminates these expensive mistakes.

For more information about this and other RFID-related projects please contact: info@nje-rfid.com.
Phone: 604-295-0519