Brett Wilkerson, Author at MSM Solutions

7 Things Walmart Vendors Need to Know Before RFID Tagging Your Products

In January 2022, Walmart recommitted to using RFID technology to better track and manage their inventory – specifically home and hard goods. A year later, they expanded their RFID initiative to include additional general merchandise like media, games, crafts, cameras, books, automotive, and lawn & garden. By February 1, 2024, the retail giant wants all required products to be tagged by the supplier before they hit the shelves. Retail RFID Compliance That means you need to take the necessary steps to...

By Brett WilkersonApparel Solutions, Blog Posts, Distribution and Logistics, PortalTrack, Retail, RFID

Unleashing the Power of RFID: A Guide to Upgrading Your Legacy Systems

As economies worldwide continue to recover from the supply chain failures of 2022, it’s more important than ever for manufacturing companies to leverage RFID solutions to streamline and optimize their processes. According to a report by Austin Nichols Technical Search, one of the biggest challenges facing the manufacturing industry today is technology deficiencies. Organizations that fail to automate are being passed in the market by those that take advantage of new innovations. Other challenges include: Labor shortages Supply chain disruptions Inability...

By Brett WilkersonApparel Solutions, Automotive Solutions, Blog Posts, Distribution and Logistics, Healthcare Solutions, Manufacturing, PortalTrack

The Advantages of RFID in Retail: From Manual Inventory Management to Automated Inventory Tracking Part One

Nowhere is inventory more complicated or critical than in retail. From apparel and jewelry to tools and electronics, the sheer volume of inventory exchanging hands is staggering. In 2021, retail sales in the U.S. alone were estimated at $6.523 billion. Surprisingly, studies have found that approximately 46% of small and mid-size businesses still rely on antiquated manual inventory management. This tedious and time-consuming practice requires team members to manually update stock levels and inventory locations. The end result is unnecessary...

By Brett WilkersonApparel Solutions, Retail, RFID

Surviving the Supply Chain Crisis

Over the years, the global supply chain industry has made great strides in providing a reliable service that delivers products on time and in good condition. It was so effective that it was mostly an afterthought for those businesses that depended on it for survival. The only thing that caused it to slow down or deviate from everyday operations was the occasional act of Mother Nature. However, the global pandemic changed all that. Massive cargo ships that once crisscrossed the...

By Brett WilkersonApparel Solutions, Automotive Solutions, Distribution and Logistics, Manufacturing, Omnichannel, PortalTrack, RFID

22NovNovember 22, 2022

How Downtime Impacts Manufacturing

Accurate and real-time management of your critical manufacturing components is vital to your business. Without it, you could experience one of the worst things to happen to your operations - unplanned downtime. When production unexpectedly stops, your lost revenue is 15x more than a scheduled downtime. And considering that asset maintenance can run as high as $3 million per incident, your unplanned downtime could decimate your profit margin depending on your industry. For example, the average automotive manufacturer loses $22K every...

By Brett WilkersonAutomotive Solutions, Distribution and Logistics, Manufacturing

How RFID Helps You Create a Digital DNA for Unique Object Identity

Identity is a hot topic these days. Did you know that objects need an identity? Establishing individual object identities is an essential tool to streamline your daily operations. It’s more than just assigning an Electronic Product Code (EPC). It’s creating Digital DNA that enables you to identify, track, count and manage items in your inventory in real-time. Creating Object Identity through Digital DNA While barcodes and QR codes are great for identifying entire shipments of products, individual object identity is better...

By Brett WilkersonApparel Solutions, Automotive Solutions, Blog Posts, Distribution and Logistics, Healthcare Solutions, Omnichannel, PortalTrack

07OctOctober 7, 2022

Is your Inventory Management Keeping You In The Dark?

As your retail business grows, inventory management has become more complex. Knowing what you have, and more importantly, what you don’t have, is vital to your success. But what you used to do with just a clipboard, pen, and flashlight, now requires a more efficient, modern solution. To manage your retail inventory more accurately and easier, you need scalable tracking solutions like MSM Solutions’ PortalTrack barcode and RFID technology. This will give you the visibility you need to better track...

By Brett WilkersonBlog Posts, Distribution and Logistics, PortalTrack

When Warehouses Have Too Much Inventory! How RFID inventory Management helps

After more than a year of supply chain issues resulting in depleted inventory and delayed deliveries, retailers and warehouses find themselves with a new issue to contend with – too much inventory. Some of the biggest retailers in the world, like Walmart and Target, have reported their warehouses are overflowing with everything from clothes to bulky toys. Meanwhile, warehouses in China and the U.S. are losing floor space to unsold televisions, refrigerators and sofas. As warehouses continue to fill up, a...

By Brett WilkersonDistribution and Logistics, RFID

5 Key Areas for How to Use RFID Tracking for WIP Manufacturing

The true purpose of any manufacturer is to create quality products cost-efficiently so the return on investment is as high as possible. By using RFID software to track your work-in-progress (WIP) manufacturing, you can ensure your WIP processes are streamlined and transparent. What is a WIP in Manufacturing? In the manufacturing industry, a work in progress (WIP) is a product that has not been completed for public distribution or sale. It’s a partially finished product that still requires labor and time...

By Brett WilkersonAutomotive Solutions, Distribution and Logistics, Manufacturing, PortalTrack

What Suppliers Need to Know When Meeting RFID Requirements

While RFID tagging in the retail industry has been around since the mid-2000s, we’ve recently seen a shift in tagging not only apparel items but hard and home goods as well. We’ve also seen other retailers begin mandating that RFID tags be placed on certain merchandise. A report from McKinsey & Company highlighted a couple of reasons for the spike in use: Individual RFID tags have dropped to approximately $0.04. RFID readers have dropped by 50% compared to a...

By Brett WilkersonApparel Solutions