SCAN TUNNELS EQUIPPED WITH RFID READERS CAN REPORT A PALLET ’ S LOCATION IN A SECOND ’ S TIME , MAKING IT HARD TO LOSE SIGHT OF GOODS .
INDUSTRY WATCH
SCAN TUNNELS EQUIPPED WITH RFID READERS CAN REPORT A PALLET ’ S LOCATION IN A SECOND ’ S TIME , MAKING IT HARD TO LOSE SIGHT OF GOODS .
It is said the invention of the pallet revolutionised supply chain management , making it faster , safer , and more economical . When Howard T Hallowell filed the original patent for the pallet 100 years ago , he was driven by the need to improve the efficiency of transporting goods , as supplies needed to move more quickly and effectively to support a growing population and bolster economic health .
The pallet is no longer just a physical mechanism to move larger quantities of goods as one . It can be the digital conduit used to transmit many of the data points that every CIO – and every business provider – needs to understand where and how to make supply chain operations faster , safer , and more economical .
When in pursuit of the truth , there is nothing more valuable than data . That is why pallets ’ value has soared over the last 100 years , especially for CIOs tasked with making sense of business anomalies .
Why are shipped orders not arriving according to schedule ? Why are so many losses occurring in the middle mile or last mile ? Why are customers filing quality complaints weeks before perishables should be showing any signs of degradation ?
These are among the many questions that a pallet can help answer , if it is fully utilised as the source it has proven it can be .
It is not feasible for any one person to keep eyes glued on every pallet . Nor are criminal mischief or accidental mishandling the only threats to the on-time delivery of goods . There are environmental hazards that are subject to human misinterpretation .
That is why every pallet needs to be given a digital voice . It can serve as a reliable field informant , reporting when , where , and why hardships are arising for income-producing goods – as well as how to fix them . More importantly , that pallet can help fill in the holes in the stories being told by other business informants : the inventory management system , the financial system , even net promoter scores .
For example , if data collated by other information systems indicates consistently late or lost shipments , an RFID tag could be attached to every pallet to track realtime movements . Scan tunnels equipped with fixed RFID readers , or frontline workers equipped with mobile RFID readers , can report a pallet ’ s location in a second ’ s time , making it hard to lose sight of those goods .
Technically , a fixed barcode scanner or mobile computer with a built-in barcode scanner could also be used to record a pallet ’ s movements and report the last-known location . However , that either requires someone to have a direct line of sight into the pallet as it passes and intentionally scan the barcode or for the barcode on the pallet to be scanned by a fixed device at a checkpoint .
Whether in retail , healthcare , government , hospitality , energy , warehousing , or manufacturing , operational function and revenue thresholds are limited by one ’ s ability to get equipment , supplies or shelf stock to the right place at the right time . Yet , establishing clear , safe travel lanes for those goods and ushering them on an uninterrupted journey can be challenging when they go dark .
That requires a lot of perfect positioning , which does not always happen . Even if it does , that barcode scan only tells you the pallet ’ s last known location – not the current location , unless the pallet just happens to still be sitting in the same spot .
RFID tags , on the other hand , do not require that direct line of sight . An RFID reader can find a pallet ’ s location
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