Challenge: When this automotive OEM upgraded the warehouse management system for its largest distribution facility, it knew a better way to manage handheld equipment was needed. There was no way to track equipment and no employee accountability. Scanners were being hidden, lost and damaged almost daily. The cost of managing this valuable equipment increased as productivity decreased.
Hotel guests have been employing radio frequency identification technology to access their rooms for about 10 years. Recently, however, access-control technology company dormakaba has taken the door-lock concept a step further with Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) units built into its locks that allow guests to unlock their rooms using their smartphones.
A year after launching an enterprise-wide Internet of Things (IoT)-based tool to capture and manage radio frequency identification and other sensor data at 50 Boeing assembly sites, San Diego-based software company Tapestry Solutions is marketing a commercial version of the system. The new version, called Enterprise Sensor Integration (ESI), is aimed at large companies across multiple industries.
Engineering company Process Systems Engineering (PSE) is marketing a near field communication (NFC) RFID label it developed this year that will identify safety-instrumented system devices at industrial locations, as well as track each device's maintenance and calibration history.
Spyder, a ski and performance brand, will implement near field communication (NFC) technology within its latest U.S. Ski Team collection. Through a partnership with Smartrac, a provider of RFID-based Internet of Things tools, Spyder is powering a select collection of its U.S. Ski Team items to connect with NFC-enabled consumer devices globally.
Retail and supply chain technology company SML plans to open its sixth RFID solution innovation center in 2017, and to further its pop-up store deployments in an effort to educate customers about its radio frequency identification products. The firm opened a center in Texas in August of this year, followed by another in China in October, and a third in Germany this month.
Meeting mandates to protect the pharmaceutical supply chain from counterfeit drugs is no easy task, but Johnson & Johnson Supply Chain has found a way to do so well before U.S. legislation kicks in and while reining in costs.
With 2016 coming to a close, it's time for another helping of supply-chain predictions for the year ahead, courtesy of the San Francisco Roundtable of the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals.
Online retail continues to grow at a rapid rate, with a 14.6-percent increase in the category in 2015, totaling $341.7bn. That has major implications for warehouse optimization.
Finnish technologies company Valmet Technologies is launching a radio frequency identification system to track the use and replacement of cloth filters for its customers, including mining, paper and energy companies.