Capitalising on the improvements to supply chain management through the use of RFID, the Dutch arm of TNT Innight in collaboration with NXP Semiconductors and label manufacturer IPEX Group has embarked on a major field test to incorporate the technology into its overnight delivery service.

The aim of the project was to enable returnable transport items to be tracked from the point of departure at the customer’s premises to the delivery locations, encompassing the entire supply chain back to the customer. During the initial three-month trial, TNT Innight worked with three customers in the agriculture, installation and medical industries to deliver returnable transport items to several delivery locations.

“RFID could offer TNT Innight significant improvements to our business. Individually bar-coded returnable transport items enable tracking – however, they require an investment in man-hours to scan each and every label at different locations in the supply chain and poorly printed or damaged labels increase scanning times,” said Nico Bossenbroek, manager Business Engineering & ICS, TNT Innight.

“Working closely with some of our customers, the purpose of the field trial was to use RFID in real-life conditions and to determine the feasibility of rolling-out the technology throughout the business. In addition, the data created from the trial could be used to inform where further improvements to our service can be made.”

The IPEX Group incorporated NXP’s ultra-high frequency UCODE G2XL smart label ICs into labels used to track 2,000 boxes around the Netherlands. Chosen specifically for the project, the chip offers long read ranges and improved performance in dense reader environments, NXP said.