Use RFID to Improve Your Supply Chain Visibility on Returnable Containers

Transcription

1 Use RFID to Improve Your Supply Chain Visibility on Returnable Containers Presented by: Tom O Boyle Director of RFID 2016 MHI Copyright claimed for audiovisual works and sound recordings of seminar sessions. All rights reserved.

2 Supply Chain RTIs How we use containers? Hold product securely Stack nicely Easy to load/unload Made specific to product, industry, or customer Prevalent in Automotive, Food, Beverage, and Laundry industry

3 Supply Chain RTIs

4 Supply Chain RTIs What happens when RTIs not available Slow or stop production Delay or suspend shipments Use costly cardboard equivalent packaging Communicate with trading partner Expedite RTI replenishment Ask for more safety stock to ensure enough RTIs

5 What If? Knowledge of RTI count was accurate Validate the receipt or shipment of RTI as it moves in supply chain Determine if an RTI passed inspection Review the history of RTI movement and determine usage, cycle times, and lifecycle data for each RTI? Do a cycle count quickly What if you could do that WITHOUT more labor?

6 Right Tool for the Job We need a low cost way of serializing each RTI Log events without line of sight or singulating each RTI Need an ability to log the ingress, QA, and egress movement without user interaction

7 RFID to the Rescue Issue low cost passive RFID tag to each RTI Smart labels for indoor plastic totes Hardened, encapsulated tags for outdoor units

8 RFID to the Rescue Technology uses worldwide standard ISO18006C No proprietary readers/tags No batteries 50 year memory life of chips Tag prices coming down Read ranges going up

9 RFID to the Rescue Read RTIs Empty Full Grouped together Collapsed

10 RFID to the Rescue Read RTIs Empty Full Grouped together

11 RFID to the Rescue Read RTIs Empty Full Grouped together

12 Read RTIs Empty Full Grouped together

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14 156 Empty Bins Read and removed from inventory

15 Results of using RFID for RTIs Greater Visibility Better Management Tools Serialized RTIs transaction history with date/time Instant count by location Knowledge of in transit RTIs Reduction of Expendable Packaging Better managed inventory means less emergencies Trading partner cooperation or reimbursement Better Managed Pool Knowledge of used RTIs vs Stationary Lifecycle roundtrips before repair/replacements Spares pooling in the wrong places

16 Example Results Automotive Supplier Pre-RFID System 250,000 plastic totes in the original pool 4 customer locations Expendable packaging required when plastic totes not available Expendable costs average $450,000 annually Expendable costs reimbursed if proven customer related issue Daily cycle counts on storage areas by p/n Pre-staged allocated totes for next days production

17 Example Results Automotive Supplier Pre-RFID System 250,000 plastic totes in the original pool 4 customer locations Expendable packaging required when plastic totes not available Expendable costs average $450,000 annually Expendable costs re-imbursed if proven customer related issue Daily cycle counts on storage areas by p/n Pre-staged allocated totes for next days production

18 Example Results Automotive Supplier Post RFID System All totes tagged Read points at doorways Logged events on: Units shipped, received, cleaned/qa Monthly reports issued to customers Less than $25K/annual expendable spend - $425K/annual savings Reduced pool size Less than 150,000 now Reduced storage area Eliminated daily cycle count Eliminated the pre-stage effort

19 Example Results Fruit Processor Pre-RFID 63,000 Plastic Bins purchased $7 Mil in costs 8 Third Party Storage Locations No visibility to location or counts of bins Annual thorough hand count at the end of the growing season performed by 4 people for 3 weeks Travel to site Required movement of stacks by forklifts to count Performed using excel No way to quantify defective bins Re-ordered more bins annually to cover defects and missing bins

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21 Example Results Fruit Processor Post RFID System All bins RFID tagged Read points at scales, gates, and driveways of plant and 3PLs Logged events on: Units shipped, received, cleaned/qa Online access to current inventory by site Expedited physical count, complete by site employees in one day Found 20% of the bins did not move during the growing season Identified and maintained damaged unit counts Saw true in-transit inventory

22 How Can Companies Get Started Review your RTIs How are they managed? What costs are associated emergencies? What would I change if I knew: How many do I have Are the units really useable Where the RTIs were located How often the units cycled the system

23 Technology is a Tool Don t get wrapped up in the technology why and how Pick a technology based upon the results required Pick an experienced partner that can expedite the implementation Look to partner with your tote/bin vendor as some of them are active in the tracking technology

24 Supply Chain RTIs YOU can control the system YOU can lower your expendable costs YOU can reduce your emergencies YOU can reduce your RTI inventory

25 For More Information: Speaker Website: #SupplyChainGeek Or visit MODEX 2015 Booth 4973