Results
- Reducing shrinkage
- Faster return of empty transport racks
- Avoiding bottlenecks
- Reducing manual administration effort
The initial situation
Over the last few decades, Weha-Therm has developed into a specialist for insulating and single pane glass. Leading regional window manufacturers, metal workers and glaziers trust in the proven quality. Due to the size and sensitivity of the material, the company uses special transport racks to bring its products safely and comfortably to its customers. The racks are delivered ‘full’ and are returned empty.
The reliable availability of a minimum number of empty racks is necessary to avoid delivery delays and additional handling. Since the return of frames – around 2,000 pieces at Weha-Therm – has often stalled in the past, there was no precise overview of the frame status and new frames often had to be purchased, the company was looking for a better solution to better manage its rack fleet.
Economically viable and scalable IoT solution
The BOX ID software platform offers an end-to-end solution for the management of returnable transport packaging (RTP). This creates process transparency along the entire supply chain, maximizes availability and eliminates losses of these transport containers. The cloud software, which can be used in a SaaS model, uses IoT tracking devices to create a transparent status overview of the entire container fleet and all logistical processes in a fraction of a second.
The BOX ID system not only includes a clear cockpit with the most important key data, but also efficient data, device and user management with numerous analysis tools for further automation and long-term process improvement.
In the case of Weha-Therm, the approximately 2,000 transport frames were equipped with cost-effective trackers that transmit Europe-wide location and movement determinations via the radio network in real time. The battery-operated trackers have a lifespan of up to seven years and can be installed as an excellent retrofit solution on existing frames within minutes.
However, rack tracking is just one of the data sources that can be used in the BOX ID platform. Using the scan app, Weha-Therm adds delivery-specific information to the racks to avoid mishandling.
Fast implementation success and savings
Already during the introduction, after about three months, the loss of frames was noticeably reduced, buffer stocks were reduced and subsequent purchases could be avoided. A possible misuse of the racks, for example by customers who have used it for their own deliveries, is immediately recognized by determining the current position and ‘overdue’ racks can be requested or even invoiced if lost. At the same time, it relieves the delivered customers of the time-consuming manual management of the racks and increases the throughput of the individual transport racks. Missing transport racks in Weha-Therm production are now a thing of the past.
The cloud-based software tracks the movements of the racks across all of our own and third-party locations. Inventories and waiting times are always available in real time.