Industrial container vendor implements system to support asset visibility initiatives
Mesa, AZ — November 19, 2004 — According to radio frequency identification (RFID) technologies manufacturer U.K.-based RF Code Inc. pH Europe Ltd, an industrial container rental organization, today has launched a new hybrid RFID solution to monitor, track and consolidate data from its inventory of intermediate bulk containers (IBCs).
The project was recently honored as an IM2004 Awards finalist in the Supply Chain category. The Information Management Awards are the premier European recognition of excellence and innovation in the management of business information.
The solution, which features RF Code's TAVIS data management software and Mantis active RFID product suite, is being used by pH Europe to improve service quality to its customers, reduce transportation costs, institute activity-based billing programs and attain new levels of supply chain visibility. Global positioning system (GPS) data at the conveyance level is paired with active RFID data at the container level to create a tracking system featuring application-specific information about the contents of each container, and its real-time location within the demand chain.
"The data associated with transporting and storing hazardous materials, pharmaceuticals, chemicals and metallic solids is mission-critical across a wide variety of vertical industries," said Armando Viteri, RF Code president. "When this information is mated with physical location information in real time, it creates new data sets that increase supply chain visibility."
JDS Professional Services of Burlington, Mass., served as lead integrator for the project at pH Europe's Huddersfield headquarters, which is located east of Manchester in the United Kingdom. The JDS CALTS Asset Tracking Suite runs on top of RF Code's TAVIS platform on a Microsoft .NET framework.
"The TAVIS-powered RFID solution that we chose for this project has performed admirably since we launched it," said Peter Wade, commercial director of pH Europe Ltd. "The system allows us to maximize the revenue possibilities from each container, react to spikes in customer demand and do so with great accuracy."
pH Europe plans to market the asset tracking capability as a value-added service to its customers, which will further increase the end-to-end supply chain efficiency and create a new revenue stream. The service will be branded Finder by the company, and will be available to its customers throughout the region.
