The global logistics industry was an estimated $8 trillion a year industry back in January 2020 and that was before the pandemic changed how we acquire our goods and services. Demand for shipping, storage and delivery escalated wildly as we ordered groceries online and shopped e-com stores looking for the latest stay-at-home fashions.
Online sales jumped 32% in Q2 of 2020 alone. In fact, demand for logistics services rose so sharply, warehouse employment is now at its highest level ever recorded with 1.25 million workers in the U.S.
This means there’s a lot more inventory moving through your supply chain. And when you’re running logistics on that many assets, handwritten notes and barcode scanning isn’t going to cut it anymore.
- The workflow is too slow.
- They require too much manual labor.
- They carry too many inaccuracies.
What you need is a software solution that utilizes RFID to give you real-time visibility into your inventory while making your workflow processes quicker and more cost-efficient.
Getting the Most Out of RFID Software
When looking to adopt an RFID software solution, you need one that can easily integrate with different systems to complement and improve your enterprise resource planning (ERP) or warehouse management system (WMS). While most of the available solutions can help you run your logistics more efficiently, many of them still have holes in their capabilities and functionalities.
RFID software can fill those holes so your workflows run more efficiently. Plus, it can seamlessly integrate your software and hardware into a single cohesive solution so you can monitor and track your inventory in real time using:
- RFID portals at dock doors
- RFID tunnels or handhelds scanners on conveyors
- RFID antennas to locate items in your warehouse
A solution like this gives you full visibility into your inventory in real-time so you always know where every item is or where it’s going.
Real-World Applications
For 3rd party logistics (3PL), RFID software is essential and invaluable. Consider the following real-world applications.
- Company A packs 100 RFID-tagged items into a container that has its own RFID tag. The tags of those 100 individual items are then married to the container’s RFID, so when a 3PL takes possession of the container, they receive the data on those items as well. Once a retail store requests 10 of those items, the 3PL can scan the 10 items, removing them from the container’s inventory, accurately updating the item count and documenting that they were sent to the retail store.
- Company B uses reusable totes that rotate back and forth between the manufacturer and the supplier. Totes A, B and C are placed on a pallet in the 3PL warehouse. The 3PL gets a request to send Tote A, but instead of just grabbing the tote, they grab the whole pallet. Without an RFID software solution constantly monitoring the inventory in real-time, all three totes are sent resulting in misplaced inventory. An RFID would be able to scan the totes as they passed through the RFID portals at the dock doors sending an alert that they were being moved without request.
PortalTrack from MSM Solutions
Globally deployed, proven and trusted by the world’s leading brands, PortalTrack manages millions of RFID events per day helping customers from every industry take complete control of their business.
Working as a standalone system or integrated with your ERP and WMS systems, PortalTrack gives you real-time insight and visibility into your ever-changing inventory, importing and exporting data with ease. Create custom reporting and analytics to pull the data you need, when you need it. Plus, our solution is platform agnostic meaning you can access the system from any device, anytime. All you need is a data connection.
With device management functionality, PortalTrack continuously monitors the health of your system. If a device malfunctions or drops a network connection, alerts are sent in real-time so you can respond quickly to ensure your supply chain doesn’t slow down.
Ready to transform how you handle your logistics? Drop us a line and we’ll be happy to get you started.
