Supply chains generate millions of data points daily, but do you know where your assets actually are right now?
If you’re still relying on manual tracking or periodic reviews, there’s a better way/ Real-Time Location Systems (RTLS) continuously track the location of your assets, containers, equipment, and vehicles wherever they are. And, RTLS turns your location data into supply chain intelligence, reducing lost assets and waste, improving your throughput, and providing your ops teams with the visibility they need to make solid decisions.
What Are Real-Time Location Systems (RTLS)?
RTLS stands for Real-Time Location Systems, which automatically identify and track the physical location of your assets as they move through your yard or facility, or while in transit. Unlike traditional inventory systems that require scanning and provide periodic updates, RTLS produces live data and does not require a person to check. You get an accurate picture of everything, including where it’s been and where it is right now.
How Real-Time Location Systems Work in SCM
Location data that’s incomplete, delayed, or unreliable can create significant bling spots. RTLS implementations achieve upwards of 99.9% accuracy across billions of transactions and provide the real-time data layer that the SCOR model performance metrics depend on.
What Are the Components of an RTLS? How Does RTLS Work?
RTLS is made up of three core components, and how they work together to provide accurate location data:
- Tags: Small devices attached to assets that emit location signals using wireless technology.
- Readers/anchors: Scanners throughout facilities, yards, and production lines that receive tag signals.
- Software platform: Software that processes data and turns it into dashboards, alerts, and reports.
The Benefits of Real-Time Location Tracking
RTLS asset tracking provides significant benefits, including:
- Increased asset visibility: Know exactly where every single asset is sitting at any given moment. No more wandering the yard looking for a specific trailer.
- Enhanced operational efficiency: When you can see how assets flow (or where they get stuck), you can fix bottlenecks before they back up your whole shift.
- Reduced costs: Spend way less on replacing lost equipment and cut down on the hours your team spends doing manual inventory counts.
- Improved safety and quality: Set up digital “no-go” zones (geofencing) that alert you if a person or a piece of gear wanders into a dangerous area.
- Efficient asset utilization: Maximize availability and extend asset lifecycle by identifying underutilized or idle equipment.
Types of RTLS Asset Tracking Technologies
Not every supply chain environment requires the same level of location precision. Yard operations tracking trailers have different needs than production lines that require precise location data. Depending on your needs, you can deploy RTLS solutions using different wireless technologies that fit your use case and operational requirements.
Active and Passive RFID
Active and passive RFID are two different approaches to radio frequency Identification. Active RFID tags use batteries and produce a continuous data stream. This makes them well-suited for yard management, high-value asset tracking, or RTLS applications where you need a longer range.
Passive RFID tags are not battery-powered. Instead, they rely on energy emitted by a reader. This reduces the cost and makes them a solid solution for high-volume, lower-precision needs like inventory management, container tagging, and tracking parts for manufacturing with RTLS warehousing solutions.
Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE)
Bluetooth Low Energy technology is energy-efficient and works well for indoor localization tracking when range is limited. BLE is less expensive to install and deploy than Ultra-Wide Band, and delivers a balance of range and precision for warehouse environments, facility-wide asset location, and applications where you need high-accuracy position, but not at a centimeter level of detail.
Ultra-Wideband (UWB)
UWB delivers the highest location precision of any RTLS technology, achieving centimeter-level accuracy. It’s also highly resistant to signal interference, so it works well in facilities that are full of machinery and metal shelving, or might have other wireless signals bouncing around.
UWB is typically the technology of choice when exact positioning is critical within a facility, such as for safety zones or avoiding collisions.
GPS
GPS is effective for outdoor tracking across yards, transportation networks, and large open campuses. There are limitations in indoor environments, though. GPS signals might be blocked indoors, so it is typically used alongside BLE or RFID.
You might ask, Is RTLS the same as GPS? GPS is one technology that can be part of an RTLS system, but RTLS is a broader framework that encompasses multiple technologies. GPS works best outside. UWB, BLE, and RFID fill in the gaps indoors where you can’t always count on GPS for indoor accuracy.
RTLS Use Cases and Applications in Supply Chain Management
RTLS supply chain applications include:
- Tracking Work-in-Progress (WIP): Keep an eye on parts as they move through different stations so nothing gets “lost” mid-assembly.
- Yard & Trailer Management: No more guessing which trailers are in which bays or how long they’ve been sitting there.
- Managing Returnable Containers: Stop losing your expensive bins and racks as they move back and forth between you and your suppliers with RTLS to manage your returnable containers.
- High-Value Tool Tracking: When a specialized tool goes missing, it shuts down production. RTLS makes sure you always know whose locker or station it’s at so you can track your tools.
- Boosting Warehouse Throughput: Cut out the search time. If a picker knows exactly where a pallet is, they can get it moved and get on to the next task.
- Safety & Compliance: Track who is near heavy machinery and keep a digital paper trail for audits automatically.
Whether you’re dealing with automotive supply chain challenges, managing food and beverage facilities, or working in manufacturing or warehousing, RTLS solutions help solve your inventory management and asset tracking challenges.
Use RTLS Technology to Power Real-Time Supply Chain Intelligence
Despite all the benefits of RTLS hardware, it is only as powerful as the software and intelligence layer behind it. You need a SaaS platform that tells transforms that data into actionable intelligence, providing real-time insights into what assets are at risk, what’s underperforming, and what decisions you need to make next.
Surgere’s Interius platform is built to turn RTLS data into operational intelligence, integrating IoT signals from across your facilities and network into a single source of truth for asset management, production control, transportation visibility, and sustainability reporting. Surgere’s AI agent, Sophia, lets you ask questions in natural language and provides recommendations to enhance efficiency and drive growth.
Ready for end-to-end supply chain visibility? See Surgere in action. Get in touch for a demo.
