Label Logic
Preventing The Loss Of Returnable Inventory, Sustaining Supply Chain Operations

The most common concern at any warehouse is the loss of reusable transport items, including totes, pallets, carts, baskets, and more. While this may seem negligible, the costs related to these losses can range between 10-30 percent of the total supply chain cost. Tracking returnable assets is vital to an organization’s supply chain and delivery operations. However, this growing number of transport items has presented an incredibly complicated situation for facility managers. It is a significant challenge for them to seamlessly keep track of all their assets to prevent theft, manage those from multiple locations, and measure and monitor asset lifecycle costs. However, many enterprises still rely on time-consuming manual asset tracking methods (pen-and-paper inventory trackers or paper labels) prone to human-induced errors and, subsequently, fail to bring the desired outcome.

Having more than two decades of experience in the asset management space, Elkhart-based Label Logic, a trusted supplier of RFID tags, labels, and asset tracking software to various industries, helps businesses overcome all asset tracking challenges. Currently, the company has eight presses and two inlay insertion machines that run for 24 hours. As such, they can produce labels according to client demands and delivery timelines. The company conducts RFID label conversion, custom inlay creation, and insertion and provides the necessary hardware to read the tags and software to provide all the data at clients’ fingertips. This helps businesses seamlessly track their assets throughout the supply chain and prevent asset loss. “We have emerged as a one-stop-shop for asset management and tracking requirements,” states Jeff Cripe, CEO, Label Logic.

What is more, the cost associated with Label Logic’s RFID tagging of inventory is minimal, as it ensures full end-to-end tracking of both high ticket items and lower cost items that can be tracked in bulk. The range of RFID tags varies from 3 feet to 37 feet, while the latest generation of RFID tags can be read from over 45 feet away, depending on the type of system employed.

As a UL, WBENC, and ISO 9001:2015 registered company, Label Logic is held accountable to the highest standards. Label Logic also conducts a fair amount of in-house testing to ensure optimum work quality in read rates.

Since the firms did not have traceability of these totes, not only did they incur huge losses, but they had to look for other dunnage to use for shipping while wasting a lot of time behind locating the lost totes. Once these automotive firms leveraged Label Logic’s RFID solutions, they were able to have significant cost savings. Each returnable tote has a unique serial number that can be scanned until it reaches back to the destination. The automotive firms have a clear record of the number of totes sent and received with all the places it went to. “We helped one of our first clients that suffered a loss of 20 million dollars in replacement cost for returnable totes bring down the cost to 40,000 dollars in the beginning itself,” says Karen.

"We can provide every step of the RFID integration process, from designing and building, to testing and implementation, all in-house"

Another such success story is that of Tokai Rika “ an automotive parts manufacturer affiliated with the Toyota Group incurring a significant loss as they were unable to get back the returnable totes that they used to safely ship products in different locations. The client was in dire need of a solution that could aid them in tracking all the totes. Label Logic worked with Tokai Rika and serialized each tote with unique RFID tags, enabling them to trace all the totes leaving their facility and have real-time information through the software. So, the client had all the information about the returnable totes and their locations. “We enabled the company to save thousands of dollars per year by reducing the loss of totes and seamlessly run their business operations,” mentions Karen.

Future Shines Bright

Thriving in the asset management space for over two decades now, Label logic has already become a go-to partner for many organizations regarding RFID solutions. Looking forward, the company is looking to diversify its clientele and serve as many businesses as possible. Precisely, the company is driven by the simple yet powerful mission of helping clients track and trace their products more efficiently. “In the coming years, our goal is to do the same in a more streamlined manner. This will help multiple establishments to gain valuable insight and visibility into their assets and have monetary benefits,” concludes Jeff.