RFID in transportation: How Action Trailer is making the investment pay off
RFID is an emerging technology that has been struggling to penetrate main stream business. By the same token, according to Bob Moroz, president of RFID Canada, RFID will become one of the prime components for most new business and consumer applications in the near future.
Most companies in North America that are involved in providing solutions using RFID are doing so for the most part in response to the retail mandates to use RFID to identify cases, pallets and eventually items. Moroz feels that although the retail and supply chain sectors will become the largest markets for RFID technology and solutions, at this point in time it is still at least two years away before we see these sectors generate the expected RFID sales.
In the meantime, RFID is being deployed in almost every other industry, including the trucking industry. One of the companies that has implemented an RFID system in the last year is Action Trailer Sales of Mississauga, ON. Action Trailer Sales is a Utility Trailer dealership servicing the transport industry by providing new and used trailers, rentals, leasing, service, and parts.
Action Trailer is using RFID for inventory tracking of up to 1,000 transport trailers parked on 25 acres. The RFID system has replaced a time-consuming manual inventory system. Each trailer has been assigned an RFID tag that is read once a day by an employee with a portable terminal. Time-savings and accuracy are the primary benefits of using RFID for this implementation.
Being able to ensure that the locations of each trailer in the lot are known at all times has been the key benefit of the system. As a result, the ROI has been obtained within well under 12 months.
Action Trailer Sales will be presenting the RFID solution deployed at the upcoming 2007 Canadian RFID Conference. The 2007 Canadian RFID Conference will be held in Markham, ON on May 8th and 9th and will bring together some of the most experienced people in the industry.
For more information on the conference or to register on-line, you can visit: www.rfidcanada.com.
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