Knowing the number of company assets alone isn't always enough in a busy warehouse or factory. Your employees need to track where assets are located, where they move, and if they are ready to use.
A lost pallet can hold up a shipment. A lost tool can stop production. Equipment just sitting in one plant may be desperately needed in another.
These issues have led companies to set aside manual inventory records for more connected asset-tracking solutions. Now, one of the two technologies most frequently mentioned for this purpose is Radio Frequency Identification (RFID).
They may be related, but they are not interchangeable. The distinctions make it easier for a business to select the right tracking approach without incurring additional expense or operational difficulty.
- Why asset visibility matters
Most people see asset tracking as simply one element of inventory management. However, it actually impacts multiple areas of an operation.
Warehouse teams need real-time visibility of goods coming in and going out Manufacturing teams need access to tools, parts, work-in-progress Logistics managers need to track reusable containers, vehicles and equipment between sites.
In the event of inadequate or outdated information, an employee can manually search, conduct the same scan again, or call to determine where an item was last seen.
A good tracking system can narrow those gaps. It tracks the identities and location of assets, simplifying the process of maintaining inventory records, tracing delays, and organizing activities.
But visibility is only beneficial if the data is accurate enough, current and appropriate for the choices employees have to make.
- How RFID improves asset tracking
RFID relies on the use of radio waves for identification. So unlike a barcode, there doesn't need to be a line of sight between the reader and the item to be identified.
Typically, an RFID system is made up of tags, readers, antennas and software that interprets the data. Once a tagged object is within the range of a reader, the system can identify it and relate the reading to its location and time of reading.
Now for an example. A distribution center could put RFID readers on the receiving and dispatch doors. The RFID could track the movement of all tagged pallets or cases moving in or out of the distribution center.
A passive RFID is also widely used for high volume inventories since they do not have batteries. They may be inexpensive when you are purchasing large quantities of them to identify items.
But the technology doesn't provide real-time locational information out of the box. Where it is also that standard stationary-reader installations most often tell them a device has been seen, not where exactly it is.
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In that case, the degree of visibility provided may be enough for inventory counting, access control, and tracking things past specific checkpoints.
- When RTLS is more helpful
A Real-Time Location System captures the continuous location data in a spatial coverage area.
RTLS employs tags or devices as transmissions that are detected by infrastructure, which then computes the location and makes the data available to the user via software. The infrastructure may employ different technologies in different implementations, for example, BLE, UWB, Wi-Fi or active RFID.
Imagine a manufacturing plant where technicians regularly look for specific tools or equipment that's been moved to different locations. RFID checkpoints could tell you when an item has entered or exited a specific space - but not where it is in-between.
With an RTLS deployment you can gain more and more continuous locations for finding equipment, as well as understanding where your assets are traveling throughout the facility.
The level of detail needed is different for each technology and environment. If a system is to identify a general zone for an asset, for example warehouse carts, it will be sufficient than to pinpoint the location of equipment close to a specific workstation.
RTLS can even extend to geofencing, dwell-time measurement, and workflow monitoring. These features can be helpful when a decision can change based on where an asset is right now.
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- RFID vs. RTLS: Which is right for your business?
Ask the same question, but from an operations perspective not the tools.
Requirement RFID RTLS
Inventory counting Often a good fit Possible, depending on design
Recording movement through checkpoints Strong fit Possible
Locating mobile assets is limited in conventional fixed-reader configurations Designed for this Purpose
High volumes of low cost items is track individually may be cheaper with passive tags.
Movement in a defined space Reader-zone dependent Depends on the selected RTLS technology
Can examine fine-grained movement data without new observations may be problematic Possibly more appropriate for continuous location data
Note: these are generalizations, not absolute truths. RFID architectures can and do vary, and some RFID based architectures can offer richer location capabilities.
Reader location, the costs of installed tags, tag requirements, interference, software integration and maintenance should all be taken into account. The type of metal, liquids, physical barriers and facility configuration can have an effect on radio-frequency.
The ideal solution is one that provides sufficient information to solve the problem reliably, without paying for precision or update rate that the operation does not require.
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- Reasons for combining RFID and RTLS
RFID and RTLS do not have to be mutually exclusive. In some facilities, the integration of both types of tags offers an excellent compromise of large inventory coverage and granular location awareness.
Say you operate a factory that controls thousands of components, hundreds of reusable containers, and fewer costly mobile tools.
Passive RFID could be used to identify parts as they move through the receiving, storage and shipping stations. RTLS could locate particular tools or mobile equipment constantly being searched for.
It would be possible for both systems to send data to one software platform if the identifier and data format could be incorporated.
This method enables the business to concentrate the more costly tracking infrastructure in locations where persistently knowing where a device is from one second to the next is worth something.
Integration matters here. A 'summary' dashboard that shows the last readings from multiple disparate systems is unlikely to save you much effort. Good software will convert the monitoring event into readable data - where the asset was last seen, which zones are being supported, list of its movement history, and status.
This can be contextualised further by tying it to your warehousing and distribution, enterprise resource planning or work order management system, or other maintenance system.
- From tracking data to operational intelligence
The next option: leverage asset-tracking data to make better decisions, rather than just display locations.
Review past movement data for clues to bottlenecks, underutilized assets and items that have been sitting around for too long. Within production history, maintenance history or inventory data, there is additional insight that can inform these observations.
Analytics and AI might enable detection of common trends or prediction of future slippages, but the output is only as good as the data, the models used, and the extent to which the system represents real-world operations.
So, the first step in implementation should be a goal that can be expressed in numbers. For example, an organization can measure the amount of time the employees spend looking for the tools, the number of Inventory records that are inaccurate or the amount of time that containers are out of reach.
The pilot project is used to develop a baseline, evaluate the technology in the real site environment and measure whether the benefits are worth the costs.
Consider security, access, data retention, and employee privacy, particularly if your tracking system collects information about the whereabouts of people.
Conclusion
RFID and RTLS use tracking to enhance asset visibility, but they provide varying degrees and types of location information. RFID generally works well for tracking and acquiring data about assets at specific locations, while RTLS is more comprehensive.
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