The actionable visibility you have into your supply chain can make a critical impact on expenses and customer satisfaction. Furthermore, knowing where assets are in real time is essential to efficient operations as supply chains continue to grow, sprawl, and become more complex and the majority of warehouses expand by 2024.
RFID in Supply Chain Management Solutions
The benefits that a track-and-trace solution provides is essential to warehouses and supply chain partners for several reasons. First, is cost. Using manual methods, tracking a shipment takes time and resources. Then, if the shipment isn’t immediately located, the supplier may have to send another shipment, possibly expedited, to fulfill the terms of an agreement.
Automating this tracking,for example, with ViziTrace RFID asset tracking solution, enables 3PL, manufacturers, and other supply chain partners to pinpoint shipments even when excursions or customs delays occur.
Using RFID in supply chain management can also decrease shrinkage, waste, and losses. With the right tracking tools, supply chains can also reduce lost pallets and trays, theft and product counterfeiting. Additionally, track-and-trace technology can ensure that perishable products reach their destinations on time.
Finally, the data from RFID tools and a track-and-trace solution help supply chain organizations increase operational efficiency. Being able to precisely track shipments helps with inventory management and planning, labor scheduling, and streamlining warehouse processes. It also enables supply chain partners to share real-time shipping information with customers, leading to greater satisfaction with the services they provide.
Overall, using an RFID in supply chain logistics helps create a more competitive and profitable operation.
The Challenges
While the right RFID solution can provide warehouses and supply chain businesses with significant benefits, choosing the wrong solution and the wrong provider will limit the value they provide. Many off-the-shelf solutions may not provide you with the features you need and can be difficult to roll out.
When you choose ViziTrace you have the advantage of a customizable solution and support from an experienced partner to handle implementation, typically in less than 30 days. Additionally, your system will deliver power, functionality, mobile functionality, and ease of use to your operation without the need to develop your own RFID software or customizations.
Some RFID solutions also have limited reporting capabilities, therefore, limiting your insights into inventory and shipping. ViziTrace provides you with RFID tracking details, including location granularity, while simplifying reporting with preconfigured templates. It also provides data storage structures for any metadata for each search. In addition, ViziTrace integrates with your enterprise resource planning (ERP) or warehouse management system (WMS) to help you create a big-picture view of supply chain activities and your workflow.
As with any technology implementation, you need to consider ongoing management, maintenance, and upgrades. In some cases, this burden falls on your in-house IT team. ViziTrace software licenses include upgrades and maintenance, and the system is highly scalable. Additionally, DecisionPoint lifecycle management tools and services are designed to help you maintain your RFID hardware for the entire life of the devices.
ViziTrace as Your Single-Source Solution
In an era of increasing supply chain complexity and demands for greater tracking capabilities, both from internal teams and from customers and partners, an effective RFID solution will provide much needed data and insights.
ViziTrace offers the hardware, software, and custom roll-out plan you need to implement RFID tracking solutions at your warehouse. Contact us today to learn more.
