Managing mobile assets without the paperwork

RedPrairie, a global leader in technology solutions that drive business process transformation and BT, a global networked IT services provider and market leader in the provision of RFID technology, today announced a partnership to offer RFID enabled Mobile Asset Management as a fully managed service.

Many businesses operate fleets of high-value mobile assets such as totes, roll-cages, trailers, beer kegs and medical equipment. Keeping track of these assets as they move between sites can be a real headache. Businesses often waste valuable time and resources in searching for assets whose location or status is unknown and as a result carry substantial buffer stocks to address typical annual losses of 10-40 percent per annum. Increasingly, organisations are also under pressure to meet tough corporate and regulatory governance standards in which effective asset and equipment management is required.
New technology now makes managing mobile assets substantially easier and more affordable. By attaching RFID tags to the assets and placing RFID readers that are connected to the internet in fixed locations in the physical environment, businesses now just need to access a web screen to find out where valuable resources are located and to build location, status and maintenance audit trails. Alerts can be set up to highlight critical events such as assets not being returned to base or serviced at the right time. This is all done at the touch of a button and with no manual intervention.

Martin Hiscox, EMEA Leader, RedPrairie comments, The savings can be huge. Weve deployed mobile asset management at one North American client and reduced the average time taken to find mission critical equipment from 61 minutes to 8 minutes, giving a net saving on wages alone of over $200K annually.

RedPrairie has chosen to work with BT to offer mobile asset management as a managed service. BT install, manage and maintain RFID tags and readers, undertake site engineering work and host RedPrairies Mobile Resource Management software (MRM). RedPrairie will configure its MRM software for individual customer requirements.

By combining BTs engineering resource, proven expertise in radio frequency identification (RFID) and market-leading Auto-ID data management platform, with our application, we are able to offer our customers a simple, quick, low cost way of managing assets without the paperwork, says Hiscox. The great thing about offering asset management as a managed service with BT is that we are able to offer our customers a complete solution for a fixed fee or on a per asset, per month basis.

Ross Hall, CEO, Auto-ID Services, BT comments In todays digital networked economy, an efficient supply-chain underpins relationships with partners and customers. Being able to track valuable assets, particularly those that are moved frequently from location to location, is therefore vital. RFID technology is a proven and reliable data capture tool. By using it to empower asset management systems with accurate and timely information, businesses will be able to save both time and money. BT is delighted to be working with RedPrairie as a leader in RFID enabled applications in this area.