The Client

AdvanTech, Inc. provides technology for competitive performance focusing on supply chain management and office automation with auto ID/barcode capabilities, document scanning and e-file management, e-procurement and inventory management systems.

The Challenge

One of AdvanTech’s clients, the Lackland U.S. Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas, was experiencing challenges with the accurate distribution of uniforms and gear to new recruits. Recruits were walking away with incorrect uniforms and other gear in their duffle bags after arriving at the base’s recruitment office.

The U.S. Air Force contacted AdvanTech to conduct a proof-of-concept on the effectiveness of using radio frequency identification (RFID) tags to improve the process.

The plan was to label each item in the new recruits’ duffle bags with an RFID tag to be read instantly as recruits pass through the reader’s chute to begin training. This would enable processors to immediately know whether they issued the right gear to each recruit as well as expedite what was previously a laborious task.

The Solution

After securing the contract to organize and execute an RFID system at Lackland, AdvanTech’s vice president of operations, Bob Bona, contacted System ID Labels and Supplies, now a part of Wasp Barcode Technologies, to purchase RFID tags.

“We wanted to buy these tags in volume at a price point that worked within our budgetary constraints,” said Bona. “The vendor listened to our requirements and recommended that we purchase the RFID tags in bulk using a blanket order.”

The Result

By purchasing RFID tags from the vendor in bulk using a blanket order, AdvanTech significantly reduced their tag costs by nearly 50 percent and eliminated the need for storage.

AdvanTech—and Lackland Air Force Base—realized additional benefits.

“In addition to significantly lowering the cost per unit, we also avoided potential quality issues because the tags ended up having a failure rate of less than two percent. We were thrilled with those results,” said Bona, who also praised the vendor’s response time. “On several occasions, the vendor responded to urgent requests for tags to be delivered the next day. The vendor came through every time.”

According to the RFID Journal, "The average inventory discrepancy is 0.2 percent at Lackland Air Force Base, which is employing radio frequency identification, versus 5.1 percent at non-RFID sites. RFID has reduced the amount of time required to issue uniforms to recruits to 45 minutes, down from 165 minutes, and has also reduced the time required each day to receive shipments into inventory to 30 minutes, down from four hours. What's more, the technology has decreased the time required to conduct physical inventory counts to eight days per year, from 40 days, for the main issue facility at the Lackland site."

Other Blanket Order Benefits

Blanket orders are contractual agreements between Wasp and its customers, who agree to pre-order barcode labels, tags, and ribbons and receive them at pre-determined intervals (usually monthly or quarterly).

Organizations with blanket orders enjoy several benefits, including:

• Significant savings: Organizations can lock in current prices for up to 12 months.
• Quantity discounts: The more companies buy, the more they save.
• No downtime: Wasp preorders everything, and then ships it out at predetermined times.
• Increased cash flow: Businesses only pay when products ship.
• Minimal inventory: Wasp stores labels and supplies onsite, freeing organizations’ storage space.
• Quick and easy: Companies order once for the year… and they’re done!

To learn more about blanket orders, request a label consult with one of our Wasp label experts today.