RFID hits home

When you think of RFID, you think of Walmart. All we heard was the demand from Walmart that their suppliers should comply by using RFID. I had got to the point that I would bypass articles on the subject.However, the June issue of Logistics Management had a story on Kimberly Clark’s use of RFID and since Kimberly Clark is a supplier of mine, this caught my attention. It has amazed me that seven days after a truckload purchase order is sent to K-C, it is on your loading dock. That is great service from a supplier.

John D. Schulz wrote a great article on their operation. Scott Buss and Todd Armstrong with Kimberly-Clark Corporation applied modern technology and problem solving to one of the oldest problems in the book. K-C has reduced trailer retention, cut-back significantly on third-party jockey services, practically eliminated the need for trailer rentals, and turned simple data collection into an operational tool.

Buss and his team started planning in February 2007 to roll out a pilot program utilizing a system from a small company called PINC. Buss wanted a way to design an inexpensive automated trailer tracking methodology in real-time. This could eliminate decades of old methods of tracking trailers. The web-based yard management tool utilizes passive RFID, GPS, and Wi-Fi to provide real-time asset visibility to both users and outside parties, including carriers.

Do you wonder how it works? According to the story: “Yard jockey trucks are fitted with RFID reading, GPS tracking and Wi-Fi communication capability. As they move through the various yards, they collect reads from semi-trailers tagged with temporarily attached passive RFID tags. As trucks move through the various yards they collect reads from semi-trailers tagged with the RFID tags. Information is collected along with data from the trucks themselves and it is overlaid on a “virtual” site map and made available through dashboard displays, on-line data, and reporting capability. This gains better visibility in real-time of exactly where assets are located throughout the sprawling South Carolina yard.”

Everything today is tracking results and all projects must be measurable. In less than a year Buss’ work on RFID has achieved a 19% cost reduction in trailer detentions, a 6% reduction in yard checks, a 31% reduction in third-party jockey services, and a 23% reduction in trailer rentals.

Congratulations to Scott Buss and Todd Armstrong for receiving this year Best Practices Gold Medal from Logistics Management and for showing us a real use for RFID. K-C is a company that continues to search for ways to improve service to their customers.