Recognizing the innovative use of digital technologies that deliver exceptional results in supply chain traceability
AIM, the leading industry association and global authority for nearly 50 years in innovation, standards, and solutions in barcode, biometrics, IoT, NFC, RFID, RTLS, and RAIN, announced the winners of its 2021 Case Study Competition. This group of includes industry leaders Aucxis RFID Solutions, CAVU Group, NetObjex, TEKLYNX, and VUEMED.
Presented annually, the AIM Case Study Competition recognizes those who have developed and delivered compelling solutions that contribute to the overall growth and advancement of automatic identification and data capture (AIDC) technologies. Awards are granted in the following categories: AIDC, Blockchain, IoT, and RFID.
TEKLYNX takes the gold for a second time in the AIDC category. TEKLYNX worked with Nemak, a key player in the global automotive industry. The challenge Nemak faced was a wide variety of labeling requirements and the need to adhere to internal standards, varying customer requirements, and automotive industry labeling regulations. Their former labeling environment allowed all users to access label templates with minimal security and a lack of validation between roles, and disparate systems across the labeling environment made that process difficult to manage. TEKLYNX implemented their enterprise label management solution TEKLYNX CENTRAL to standardize and centralize labeling company wide. With Nemak having internal familiarity and previously leveraging TEKLYNX label design software LABEL MATRIX, TEKLYNX seamlessly transitioned all label templates, integrated all disparate data with one ERP system, and handed over control of the Nemak IT department within three months. Nemak increased labeling accuracy to 98%, reduced label design time by as much as 75%, cut time spent fixing manual errors in half, and increased customer satisfaction by 75%.
The Blockchain group saw a new addition with NetObjex, who focused on creating a global registry for the diamond market. When it comes to diamonds, there is no global registry where the ownership of diamond could be attributed. Details of the manufacturer, retailer or for that matter the purchaser of the diamond is not really captured cohesively. A global registry would help consumers know that the diamond on your ?nger is ethically sourced along with its origin & movement through the value chain. To ensure that the value of the diamond, its provenance etc., was clear to the manufacturers, retailers & consumers, NetObjex implemented their GemIdentity™ platform to create and maintain value for precious stones through a unique set of tools and technologies to engender trust, provide traceability and promote transparency. The platform guarantees tracks ownership, provenance, authenticity, traceability, and tokenization.
Taking the win for the IoT category is CAVU Group. Their case study featured one of the largest US logistics providers of Cold Chain Shipping and Supply Chain Management. This provider came to CAVU Group looking for a solution to enhance their reverse logistics and reusability of electronic data loggers for their major pharmaceutical customers. Their current data logger ecosystem was linear with few reverse logistics programs having a reuse and recycle option. The customer selected American Thermal Instruments (ATI) LOG-IC Bluetooth Data Logger that is built for multi-use and will last up to 1 year in the supply chain. The benefits included increasing returned loggers by 125%, while decreasing e-waste by turning their supply chain from linear to circular. The customer also reduced the cost of electronic data loggers by over 50% when purchasing a reusable product.
Lastly, we have RFID co-winners with solutions from Aucxis RFID Solutions and VUEMED.
Aucxis worked with Rent-All, a Dutch leading rental company of rigging, lighting, audio and video equipment with 5 establishments in Europe delivers equipment to theatre and television studios, fairs and festivals. The challenge with a fleet of +/- 260,000 rental items, the manual registration of the incoming and outgoing movements of the rental materials was a time-consuming and error-prone process. Rent-All was looking for an automatic detection system that can interact with their ERP package. Aucxis utilized RFID gates with integrated readers and antennas register all passing tags and send the information to Rent-All’s ERP system via the Aucxis middleware HERTZ. The system validated the materials upon delivery and return, provided digital support of the order pickers and a real-time link with the company’s existing ERP package. Rent-All is recognizing increased accuracy, improved turnaround times, and a real-time overview of the lifespan of each article.
VUEMED uses RAIN RFID technology to achieve data-driven supply management optimization and cost savings at a large academic medical center in California. The Provider's Cardiovascular Department lacked control, visibility, and automation in managing consumable devices and supply inventories, resulting in high rates of wasted and unused inventory, and inaccurate and incomplete supplies documentation and billing at the point of care. Less than 50% of cases had their supplies captured accurately due to manual supply documentation and more than 50% of items on-hand had no traceable correlated purchase history. VUEMED’s VueTrack-RF™ technology solution was implemented to track medical devices and supplies in real time with 99.5% accuracy. Today, expired items have been maintained at <1% of total inventory value, unused inventory and inventory above recommended par levels have been reduced by >60%, and billing accuracy has increased to >90%. Additionally, VueTrack-RF has resulted in vastly increased patient safety: expired items are never placed in patients, stock-outs have been eliminated, and recalled items are now trackable to individual patients within seconds.
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