Warehouse Inventory Tracking System for Social Security Administration
The Social Security Administration (SSA) is using Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology in their supply chain and logistics model to assist with tracking inventory between their warehouses located in Baltimore and the surrounding area. SSA ships more than 240,000 line items each year from their five warehouse facilities. They were using a barcode, labor intensive, scanning process, but this process was having difficulty keeping accurate inventory and shipping transaction records.
System Concepts, Inc. (SCI) of High Point, NC worked with the SSA to simplify the process by installing their TraxWare® software solution into each of the five warehouse locations to create one of the largest enterprise-level EPC/DoD compliant RFID warehouse management installations in the U.S. Government.
TraxWare for RFID Warehouse Tracking incorporates SCI’s OnPortal RFID portal system with Generation 2 RFID interrogators and printers. For SSA, the RFID equipment was manufactured by Intermec Technologies and the edge computer by Advantech’s UNO-2160 network processor along with SCI’s PrintTrax printer server. All of this equipment was utilized to ensure a quick and reliable ECP/DoD complaint implementation.
By introducing RFID technology into the warehouse business model with a primary focus on receiving and shipping, SSA will realize hard savings in improvement of inventory accuracy, reductions of bad shipments, reduction of labor, and efficiencies of scale (i.e. shipping the right product to the right customer at the right time, many times!)
SSA will be incorporating a supply chain smart label compliance concept whereby it is working with its’ vendors to label all incoming inventory with RFID labels that will be received at its warehouses. With this inventory being encoded correctly, SSA can receive, identify and update its receipts quicker and give management better visibility on its inventory levels.
As inventory is shipped and received between SSA’s warehouses and its customers, this technology can be utilized to record all shipments and/or receipts to update inventory levels more accurately and yet, reduce labor by minimizing errors associated with human scanning.
OnPortal and PrintTrax enable efficient deployment by utilizing off-the-shelf RFID hardware from major RFID manufacturers. Gary Orem, SSA’s RFID Project Manager has been very pleased with System Concept’s technology, vision and services, its software flexibility and hardware that works. Mr. Orem has been one of the true pioneers of RFID and continues to implement corporate wide solutions into the agency that increase operational efficiency while saving significant taxpayer dollars.
L. Allen Bennett, President and CEO of System Concepts, Inc. said after the project was awarded “this will be one off the first ‘enterprise’ RFID installations at a large government agency in Washington and surrounding areas. The leaders at the Social Security Administration are true visionaries. They continue to introduce cost saving measures into their warehouse operations, where other companies and agencies just talk about it!”
The SSA is expecting to save over $1.3 million a year using this new RFID technology.
Advantech Corporation, eAutomation Group – Founded in 1983, Advantech is a global leading ePlatform service provider integrating web-based technology, computing platforms and customization services that empower the connected eWorld. Advantech cooperates closely with system integrators to enable them in providing complete solutions for a wide array of applications in various industries. Advantech delivers more than a thousand products and solutions under 3 main categories: Embedded & Applied Computing, Industrial and Network Computing, and eAutomation. With the combined talent of more than 2,000 people, Advantech operates an extensive support, sales and marketing network in 16 countries and 28 major cities to deliver fast time-to-market services to our worldwide customers. US operations for the Industrial Automation Group, 1320 Kemper Meadow Drive, Suite 500, Cincinnati, OH 45240. Website for Advantech customers in North America: www.eautomationpro.com/us Email:
System Concepts, Inc. - Founded in 1984, SCI provides RFID and AIDC software solutions that enable successful RFID installations in the manufacturing, process control, asset tracking and EPC/DoD compliance markets. SCI’s solutions leverage the company’s RFID expertise and generate a lasting and measurable impact for customers transitioning to RFID technology. The company’s flagship product, TraxWare®, is deployed in RFID operations, large and small. Corporate office is located at 4000 Piedmont Parkway, Suite 110, High Point, NC 27265. Website for System Concepts is www.sysconcepts.com Email:
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