Background
Hoek Group, an international logistics company involved in the global purchase and sale of flowers and plants, faced challenges in tracking and managing its reusable packaging. To address these issues, Hoek partnered with RTiOT, a provider of innovative tracking and tracing solutions, to create smart returnable transport items. This case study explores how Chainway C72 RFID readers played a critical role in RTiOT's RFID solution, helping Hoek enhance its logistics operations, improve efficiency, and ensure the return of its packaging materials.
Challenge
The transition from single-use cardboard boxes to reusable plastic boxes required Hoek Group to implement a robust tracking system to monitor the movement of approximately 100,000 pink sustainable boxes. These boxes are shipped internationally to countries like the UK, Ireland, Germany, and Denmark. The primary challenge was ensuring the return of these packaging materials to Hoek for reuse, as opposed to the one-way disposal of cardboard boxes. Before implementing RTiOT's solution, Hoek struggled with the manual scanning of each container, which was time-consuming and prone to errors. The company needed a scalable, efficient, and automated system to accurately track box movements in real-time, ensuring a continuous supply cycle.
Solution
RTiOT designed an integrated RFID solution tailored to Hoek's needs, with Chainway C72 RFID readers playing a key role:
Packing with Precision: At the packing tables, each equipped with a fixed RFID reader, boxes are filled with products, and the reader captures their UHF RFID tag, linking it to the customer order information. After completing the order, the data is shared with the Posito system, ensuring accurate tracking from the very first step.
Automated Portals for Seamless Processing: Two strategically placed RFID portals manage incoming flow. The dirty box portal automatically scans pallets filled with used boxes upon arrival, eliminating manual scanning, and updating inventory in real-time. The clean box portal handles cleaned and inspected boxes, updating their status to "clean" and ready for reuse.
Flexibility with Chainway C72 RFID readers : For scenarios beyond the fixed portals, RTiOT provided robust Chainway C72 RFID readers. These scanners act as a backup, allowing for spot-checks or scanning boxes that might miss the portals, ensuring all boxes are accounted for regardless of their path through the facility.
Result
The implementation of RTiOT's RFID solution, with the critical support of Chainway C72 RFID readers , has significantly benefited Hoek in several key areas:
Hoek Group, an international logistics company involved in the global purchase and sale of flowers and plants, faced challenges in tracking and managing its reusable packaging. To address these issues, Hoek partnered with RTiOT, a provider of innovative tracking and tracing solutions, to create smart returnable transport items. This case study explores how Chainway C72 RFID readers played a critical role in RTiOT's RFID solution, helping Hoek enhance its logistics operations, improve efficiency, and ensure the return of its packaging materials.
Challenge
The transition from single-use cardboard boxes to reusable plastic boxes required Hoek Group to implement a robust tracking system to monitor the movement of approximately 100,000 pink sustainable boxes. These boxes are shipped internationally to countries like the UK, Ireland, Germany, and Denmark. The primary challenge was ensuring the return of these packaging materials to Hoek for reuse, as opposed to the one-way disposal of cardboard boxes. Before implementing RTiOT's solution, Hoek struggled with the manual scanning of each container, which was time-consuming and prone to errors. The company needed a scalable, efficient, and automated system to accurately track box movements in real-time, ensuring a continuous supply cycle.
Solution
RTiOT designed an integrated RFID solution tailored to Hoek's needs, with Chainway C72 RFID readers playing a key role:
Packing with Precision: At the packing tables, each equipped with a fixed RFID reader, boxes are filled with products, and the reader captures their UHF RFID tag, linking it to the customer order information. After completing the order, the data is shared with the Posito system, ensuring accurate tracking from the very first step.
Automated Portals for Seamless Processing: Two strategically placed RFID portals manage incoming flow. The dirty box portal automatically scans pallets filled with used boxes upon arrival, eliminating manual scanning, and updating inventory in real-time. The clean box portal handles cleaned and inspected boxes, updating their status to "clean" and ready for reuse.
Flexibility with Chainway C72 RFID readers : For scenarios beyond the fixed portals, RTiOT provided robust Chainway C72 RFID readers. These scanners act as a backup, allowing for spot-checks or scanning boxes that might miss the portals, ensuring all boxes are accounted for regardless of their path through the facility.
Result
The implementation of RTiOT's RFID solution, with the critical support of Chainway C72 RFID readers , has significantly benefited Hoek in several key areas:
- Improved Traceability: The ability to track reusable boxes when they are sent out and upon their return, ensuring accurate inventory tracking and accountability for these stages.
- Operational Efficiency: Elimination of manual scanning, leading to substantial time savings and reduced labor costs. Previously labor-intensive processes have been streamlined through automated scanning portals.
- Enhanced Stock Control: Real-time insights into container stock levels at their facilities, optimizing inventory management and reducing the number of boxes needed in circulation.
- Cost Savings: Decreased need for purchasing new boxes and lowered operational costs due to the efficiency gains from automation.
- Customer Accountability: Ability to monitor container retention times with clients, promoting timely returns and maintaining a steady supply.
