DALLAS - AXCESS International Inc., a leading provider of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) systems, today announced positive results for a case study determining the financial return on investment (ROI) for a customer using RFID for container management.
The study was based on the AXCESS ActiveTag system implemented at a chemical plant facility. The system was implemented to automatically account for the pool of flow bin containers, also known as Intermediate Bulk Containers (IBC), a portion of which were regularly missing, returned late, or damaged by customers. Industry statistics for asset shrinkage due to leakage to other companies, sub-pooling, and customer non-returns are typically 2% of the total base per year, but can be as high as 10%. Industry case studies have also found RFID enabled reductions in the pool of logistics assets as high as 44% through improvements in conventional physical tracking and more efficient management.
The AXCESS study followed the successful implementation of the ActiveTag AssetActivator system using the Company's battery-powered RFID tags placed on containers and activated automatically on-demand (in semi-active or in "hands-free" mode) at entry/exit points for truck and rail. The system provided real-time asset inventory counts, facility location determination for the containers, and full asset management.
The ROI study covered more than 3500 IBC's at the facility with 4 different entry/exit points. Assuming only a 1% reduction of missing containers, the study identified over $250,000 in total savings and a 14 month payback. At 2%, $700,000 was saved with a 7 month payback. Although labor savings were found, they were not included in the results as the container asset savings were so dramatic. The study also concluded that further reductions in "lost" assets dramatically increased ROI, providing a solid business case for using semi-active RFID for closed-loop container management and loss protection.
