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The defence, aviation and technology company Raytheon has calculated two-year capital asset savings of some US$471,650 after only three months of its pilot programme using a joint RFID Mobile Resource Management (MRM) solution from RedPrairie and RadiantWave.
Raytheon says it will leverage the solution to track and optimise the usage of laboratory equipment across many of its campuses and, as a result, will be able to help with loss prevention, adhere to calibration schedules, and reduce the time and labour associated with manual equipment tracking and searches. Based on its three month pilot, Raytheon estimates the benefits of the MRM solution equate to nearly a quarter of a million US dollars in annual savings.
RedPrairie and RadiantWave's combined MRM features use RFID to identify, manage and track physical assets, information and personnel. RadiantWave provided integration services during the implementation and pilot phases, and recommended RedPrairie's software for the project.
RedPrairie's MRM system comprises RFID readers, tags, and asset management and visibility applications. Static readers throughout Raytheon's campuses read RFID tag information, and track the location of each asset each time it is moved. That data is then transmitted to an application server, providing visibility into the location and usage of key corporate assets at any time. Raytheon engineers are able to locate assets by name, type, manufacturer, serial number or tag type.
During a time study conducted during the pilot scheme, Raytheon noted a significant difference in the average time needed to locate lab equipment manually compared with tracking using the MRM system. It took an average of 60.8 minutes to manually track a sample group of lab equipment, compared to 8.4 minutes using RFID tags. By saving an average of 52.4 minutes several times over the course of each day, Raytheon says it will be able to significantly boost its labour productivity.
To prevent asset losses, the system also alerts Raytheon when equipment approaches an exit. The company was also able to automate its calibration process and maintain contract-specific calibration schedules by alerting supervisors of required equipment calibration and corresponding locations.
Raytheon calculated the two-year capital saving by reviewing the number of times the company searched for a particular asset in a year, multiplying each figure by the time savings associated with RFID searches, and then adding up all savings figures.
According to Jim Dachelet, RadiantWave's president and CEO, it is fairly common for companies to achieve savings of this magnitude by employing MRM technologies because the process reduces the time involved in manual tracking and allows companies to preserve their mobile corporate asset investments.
For additional information:
· Visit RedPrairie at http://www.redprairie.com
· Visit RadiantWave at http://www.radiantwave.com
Source: RedPrairie Corporation
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