Blog Post

Role Of Technology In Monitoring Of Reusable Supply Chain Assets

Adapt Ideations • Oct 18, 2022

Innovative Solutions For Tracking Reusable Supply Chain Assets

Reusable supply chain assets can be defined as items such as containers and pallets that can be used multiple times to store and transport products securely. The billions of reusable supply chain assets in circulation further signifies the difficulty of accounting for them not only when they are in the owner’s hands but also when in use by their clients.

This points to the need to be able to locate reusable supply chain assets at any point of time. While some technology is in use today such as RFID & BLE there are certain limitations to their usage. This is where IoT asset tracking solutions comes into the picture allowing complete visibility to be obtained allowing any asset from roll cages, pallets, trays, and containers to be tracked making sure that they can be located instantly.

Reduce Asset Loss & Achieve Greater ROI With IoT Asset Tracking Solutions

Ultimately the utilisation of innovative IoT asset tracking solutions will enable companies to reduce the amount of asset loss and save on unnecessary expenditure associated with reusable supply chain assets. While one asset being lost may only cost a small amount to replace, it can quickly add up if multiple assets go missing and cannot be relocated. By utilising an IoT enabled solution the asset’s location can be tracked in near real-time along with other important parameters such as geofencing capabilities allowing users to receive instant alerts when set conditions are not met. Technology has rapidly advanced so much so over the last few years that these types of asset tracking solutions and platforms can allow for data to be easily shared with all stakeholders within the supply chain and with clients if required.

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Improving Asset Management With The Use Of Innovative Track & Trace Solutions

Operational efficiency can be increased exponentially through the use of IoT asset tracking solutions. One important factor that asset trackers can allow is businesses to understand if assets are remaining idle or if their use is being maximised. With reusable supply chain assets businesses can understand how their products are being utilised by tagging and tracking these assets with this visibility also extended to their clients if required.

This helps to provide a level of accountability to users and simplify any disputes which may occur for example, if assets go missing, are sitting idle or are damaged. Tracking of reusable supply chain assets can also help simplify inventory management giving an overview of the number of assets in circulation.

Auditing and validating each asset can be simplified with a greater understanding of when assets enter and leave a certain location. This can be furthered by identifying the number of assets that clients have at any point of time and other key parameters. This leads to reducing bottlenecks through everyday operations while also reducing costs linked to replacing assets that are damaged or go missing and time associated with relocating assets.

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IoT Asset Tracking Solutions Helping Companies Develop Greater Agility.

Implementing the use of an IoT enabled asset tracking solution will help companies to develop more agile processes throughout operations. While managing assets that are within your own site is much simpler, this becomes complex once reusable assets are spread across multiple client sites for an extended amount of time. This is where remote monitoring of reusable supply chain assets becomes invaluable being able to instantly identify where they are located at any point of time and enabling any decisions taken to be backed by data collected. Tracking reusable supply chain assets thereby enables processes to be quicker and more consistent allowing for greater accuracy of all assets being utilised. While current asset management processes rely heavily on manual recording and entering of details this can be minimised with the use of an asset tracking device and a secured cloud platform where all the data can be accessed simplifying asset management. In addition, the monitoring of reusable assets can also help identify where their clients’ products are without physically checking the device or asset. For example, if at any point of time a pallet goes missing while in transit or even on a site the location can be identified within minutes.

The Value of IoT Asset Tracking Technology

The true value in utilising a tracking solution for reusable supply chain assets isn’t in tracking the individual pallet alone but the cost savings that can be achieved when deployed at scale. One pallet alone may not cost much, however this can quickly add up when thousands of pallets are in use. It’s estimated that millions of pallets and containers are simply lost to theft each year. The cost alone would be phenomenal to replace the number of assets either lost or stolen leaving companies with a significant amount of unnecessary expenditure. The tracking of these assets can also reduce bottlenecks experienced including misplaced assets, issues with accountability and downtime experienced with communicating with clients to identify if they still have the assets, where they are located and when they can be sent back.

How IoT Asset Tracking Solutions Are Enhancing Asset Management

A number of changes can be made for greater asset management of reusable supply chain assets. Utilising a near real-time asset tracking solution can enable companies to achieve greater utilisation of assets in the field. At the end of the day, this allows the cost of usage to be lowered thereby improving sustainability as a lower number of reusable supply chain assets need to be manufactured and deployed for every client. While on a daily basis the tracking of assets will be enhanced, in the long-term, data can be analysed allowing operational improvements enabling positive financial and sustainability flow on effects to occur. Some innovative solutions not only allow for direct customers of the solution to have access to the dashboard but access can also be granted for their own clients depending on their needs. With the increasing appeal of near real-time visibility there is a shift occurring from other technologies such as barcode & RFID solutions to GPS and cellular solutions allowing data capture to be transformed. With technology continuously changing, solutions are becoming more sophisticated and enhanced improving asset management even further.

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How Adapt Ideations’ Innovative Solutions Are Changing The Standards Of Remote Monitoring Of Assets.

Asset Trackers and Data Loggers used across a wide range of industries

With so many solutions in the market today the benefits of implementing a solution needs to far outweigh what a business can achieve with the current product in place along with the cost of implementation. Adapt Ideations’ innovative solutions can be used across a wide range of industries and use cases due to their capabilities. Not only utilising an active asset tracking solution but also the secured platform together allows any stakeholder to instantly understand vital metrics on assets at any point of time, but also tracking key performance metrics like OTIF. The short & long-term benefits that can be achieved together is limitless ultimately changing the standards of remote monitoring of assets.

Get in touch with us today at enquiries@adaptideations.com for further information on our asset tracking solutions.