RUSH Wi-Fi RFID case study 012309

1 Rush Tracking Systems - Client Case Study: Wi-Fi RFID

With a franchised dealer network spanning more than 3,000 locations, each carrying finished goods inventory in excess of $1M, the company sought to track each as-set that is received or sold at individual dealer sites on a near real-time basis.Having accurate visibility to inven-tory on-lot at dealer sites provides business benefits to the client and its dealers. The client’s credit division ex-

Opportunity Overview:

Client Case Study:

Wi-Fi RFID

• Client: Global automobile manufacturer

• Business Challenge: Management of fin-ished goods inventory at dealer sites

• At Stake: Financial loss due to increased credit cycle, delays in order fulfillment cycle, no visibility to sales and receipts

tends financing to dealers for new and used finished goods, which requires visibility to actual point-of-customer-sale to ensure that dealers account for sold units in a timely manner. Previously, the credit divi-sion invested in ongoing verification/audits to ensure assets are in place with no risk of financial loss at the dealership. Moreover, dealers themselves do not know 100% of the time if a make and model with spe-cific features available on-lot, which results in poten-tial lost sales. Inventory accuracy provides dealer sales teams confidence in what is on their own lot or other dealer lots.

2 Rush Tracking Systems - Client Case Study: Wi-Fi RFID

Business Challenge:

Financial loss due to inefficient asset management

Due to disparate internal sales systems implemented at dealerships, the client does not have real-time visibility to sales of its $150k-300k financed assets across its dealer network. In addition to the financial loss based on an increased credit cycle, the lack of visibility to sales and receipts taking place in real time delays the downstream order fulfillment c y c l e , w h i c h causes a ripple effect through the ent i r e supply chain.

To keep track of equipment that is sold or leased versus what is available on-lot, the corporate credit team em-ploys third- party auditors to con-duct quarterly and semi-annual audits at its dealerships. Not only infrequent and expensive, these audits are logistically chal-lenging for the company and intrusive for the dealers. Auditors cannot determine if any equipment that is not seen on-lot is sold or out for a demo. At any given time, the customer has $5M-$7M in finished inventory that is unaccounted for in dealer audits. One example of unac-counted inventory is the rental/demo equipment that is

often not returned on time, contributing to mismanage-ment of collateral at dealerships.

With systems that are not up-to-date, the dealer sales staff do not have accurate visibility to what equipment is

expected to ar-rive when, or if a certain model/make on display has already been sold. This results in the sales staff’s lack of confidence in confirming equip-ment availability to their custom-ers, and limits their ability to influence a po-tential sale.

For large dealer-ships that oper-ate multiple loca-tions in the same city/region, visi-bility to inventory

available for sale at each individual location is critical for maximizing revenues. With consolidation as a current trend in the dealer network, it is common for dealers to own five to ten sites. In situations where a particular loca-tion/site is out of stock on a specific make and model, the customer can be directed to other locations within the dealer network that have the equipment in stock.

Solution Implementation: Wi-Fi RFID

For this pilot, Rush Tracking Systems deployed OATSys-tems Asset Tracking solution to track equipment move-ments into, out of and within three dealer location. By leveraging Wi-Fi infrastructure the need for RFID readers or other hardware was eliminated. The goal was to pro-vide a presence-based asset management system that facilitates centralized visibility to the location and inven-tory status of assets across multiple dealer sites.

Rush Tracking Systems and OATSystems designed the solution to be as cost-effective as possible leveraging Wi-Fi infrastructure. Each piece of dealer equipment was

affixed with a combination Wi-Fi active/passive Gen2 tag. Presence-based Wi-Fi was an ideal solution that works both indoors and outdoors under harsh weather conditions, at a fraction of the cost and complexity of other real-time location systems. This standards-based technology solution allows numer-ous applications to be built leveraging the same Wi-Fi infrastructure. For instance, sales team members can use their PDAs to pull up asset history and features of a product, and support technicians can connect to the net-work to retrieve maintenance manuals wirelessly.

3 Rush Tracking Systems - Client Case Study: Wi-Fi RFID

nates the need for on-site software installations at dealer locations, and associated servers and stor-age.

Rush Tracking Sys-tems conducted ex-tensive hardware tests simulating the produc-tion environment to detect any issues ahead of time. The OATSystems solution can be scaled across additional dealer sites and supports not only the current need for a presence-based sys-tem, but also future needs for asset track-ing with passive RFID tags and a real-time l oca t i on sys t em (RTLS).

Rush Tracking Systems worked with the client to finalize the business requirements and to define the functional specifications for the Wi-Fi based asset tracking solution. Rush Tracking Systems recommended OAT software which incorporates in-dustry best practices and enabled a production-ready solution in a short time, with minimum risk and lower costs, com-pared to custom devel-opment. OATSystems Asset Tracking provides a single dashboard for all the steps involved in this RFID implementation, including setup of reader network hierarchy, setup of assets and attributes, device configuration and monitoring, and specifi-cation of workflow rules and alerts. The central-ized RFID software elimi-

WiFi asset tag

Jim…I have a

customer looking for a

3720 with an ehydro ,

do we have one?

Let me see…Sure do,

OAT - AssetTracking

says one came in off

demo just 15 minutes

ago!!! Let’s take a look.

Wi - Fi Access

Points WiFi asset tag

Jim…I have a

customer looking for a

Prius with a 5- speed

do we have one?

Let me see…Sure do,

OAT - AssetTracking

says one came in off

demo just 15 minutes

ago!!! Let’s take a look.

Wi - Fi Access

Points

4 Rush Tracking Systems - Client Case Study: Wi-Fi RFID

• Improved enforcement of credit terms and reduction in credit cycle time (corporate)

• Elimination or minimization of manual audits – expensive, infrequent (corporate) and intrusive (dealer)

• Enhanced inventory visibility, tock awareness, and inventory confidence (dealer)

• Potential to improve inventory verifica-tion/confidence accuracy (corporate and dealer)

• Proactive demo/lease management – daily reports on assets overdue (dealer)

• Improved security with theft detection based on motion-sensors affixed to tags (corporate and dealer)

RFID Solution Benefit

RFID Solution Results

Currently in the pilot phase of this project, the client has reported that dealers are already see-ing the benefits of the new system, with at least three instances where the application was used to locate a particular model for a customer. The dealer staff is excited about the application and has expressed interested in the company rolling it out as a company-wide program.

The solution designed and implemented by Rush Tracking Systems provides the client with the

ability to track when assets get sold (by date and time) and any exception scenarios (e.g., overdue demos/rental assets). The OATSystems Asset Tracking software provides reporting on visibility to inventory by location, asset type, and key attributes including serial number, inventory status, make, model etc.

These reports can be used by individual dealers and the corporate team to audit inventory across multiple sites. Reports also enable access to asset history (e.g., date when an asset was sold, or when an asset went off-lot for rental/demo and when it was returned to the dealer). The solution also facili-tates analytics/insights that can be used to in-crease sales (i.e., a dealer can track how many times a unit goes out on demo before it is actually sold).

Having visibility to equipment sales across the dealer-network - what is selling, as well as where and when it is sold -- can help dealers and the cor-porate sales team plan targeted marketing and in-centive programs based on seasonal demand or regional preferences.

5 Rush Tracking Systems - Client Case Study: Wi-Fi RFID

RFID Solution Details

A single instance of OATAssetTracking was deployed to manage three dealer locations. OATSystems’ Asset Tracking application incorporates a standards based solution design that provides: • Automatic tracking of equipment at dealer locations via RFID

• A Web interface for managing and locating dealer inventory and viewing report.

• A handheld application to facilitate tagging, checking out, and locating dealer inventory and performing audits

6 Rush Tracking Systems - Client Case Study: Wi-Fi RFID

Approximately 500 distinct make/model numbers were tagged for this pilot. Reusable Wi-Fi RFID tags manufactured by Tyco Electronics using G2 Micro-systems chips were utilized in combination with Gen2 passive tags. The tagged assets are tracked across the locations/zones within the dealership, and the asset and tags are dissociated during the checkout process.

The dealerships were configured for basic location tracking, where tags will be associated with the loca-tion of the nearest wireless access point. An alert is generated whenever an available asset moves off-lot, or when an asset which previously moved off-lot comes back on-lot. The OAT Asset Tracking solu-tion is configured to send email alerts to users in the case of business exceptions, such as a non-demo/rental as-set detected going off-lot with-out being checked out. The sys-tem also lets a user do a cycle count/audit of the tagged fin-ished goods using handheld readers, and flags SKU/brand of items that have significant vari-ances between expected inven-tory and cycle count values.

RFID Solution Details

The active tags use Wi-Fi to communicate with the OAT Asset Tracking application. Each time a tag comes within range of a Wi-Fi access point, the tag broadcasts a message to OAT software. OAT soft-ware then determines the location of the tag based on the access point where the tag was detected; hence, location granularity is currently only at the zone level (closest access point). Requiring a much denser network of Wi-Fi access-points, RTLS tech-nology was rejected as a solution option for the cur-rent phase based on the poor cost versus benefit ratio. However, it may be considered in the future for determining location coordinates within 20 feet, and future phases will also incorporate Cisco loca-tion appliance.

This application integrates with external ERP Systems to get asset information, integrate with IBM EPCIS Server to pro-vide EPC events and generate business alerts based on ex-ception movements.

OATxpress integrates with external systems in order to support the following function-alities:

•Load asset data from manu-facturing system.

•One-time manual load of cur-rent inventory data held at dealer locations

•Send EPCIS messages

•Send (e-mail) alerts to busi-ness users

• Interfaces with reader and handheld devices

Rush Tracking Systems provides world-class RFID systems integration and business process consulting services for organizations look-

ing to maximize the business value and performance of investments in RFID tracking technologies. Rush Tracking offers unsurpassed

RFID technical expertise and market-proven products from the industry’s leading manufacturers.

For more information, visit www.rushtrackingsystems.com, call (913) 227-0922 or email [email protected]