The Problem
One of the largest tier 1 automotive suppliers in North America, and globally, faced significant challenges:
- Frequent loss of returnable containers
- Highly inaccurate on-site and off-site container counts
- A major OEM customer required weekly on-site counts for their manufacturing programs, but these were consistently inaccurate
- Shipping and receiving workflows for returnable packaging and related parts were highly manual, resulting in data inaccuracies
- Manual counting processes for on-site containers were labor-intensive and error-prone
- These issues led to container shortages, causing production disruptions, delays, and rushed shipments to customers
- A previous attempt with another, more expensive vendor had failed to resolve these problems
The Solution
The manufacturer turned to Tempo Technologies for their Returnable Transport Item (RTI) tracking solutions, including:
- Specialized software for container management
- Cost-effective RFID labels
- Leveraging of existing RFID hardware to prove the concept cost-effectively
- First, the manufacturer started in one facility to validate the business case
- They then expanded to additional facilities once proven successful
The Results
The Tempo solution delivered significant improvements:
- Eliminated weekly manual cycle counts
- Reduced cycle count labor by 75% and cycle count time by more than 90%
- Provided much more accurate weekly container counts to their OEM customer, improving confidence and the relationship
- Reduced RTI-related production disruptions by more than 95%
- Eliminated 100% of RTI-related rushed shipments
- Removed the need for single-use corrugated packaging, aligning with executive management’s directive for sustainability
- Improved overall operational efficiency in container management