Company adopts RFID technology to track shipping carts

Container Centralen Inc. is adopting a radio frequency identification (RFID) system for tracking its shipping rack equipment. The initial roll-out of the system will include approximately 150 locations and 250,000 shipping racks that the company supplies to horticultural customers throughout North America. The system is expected to be fully deployed by February 2010. Fluensee Inc. in Denver is providing the asset tracking and visibility software. Fluensee is also responsible for the solution implementation and support services. RF Code Inc. in Austin, Texas, is providing the active tags, readers and infrastructure. These two companies have previously worked together on RFID implementations. Since many of Container Centralen’s customers are located in remote and rural locations, unique RFID readers have been developed. One of the readers is capable of operating on solar power and uses a 3G dial-up modem for internet data transmission. Container Centralen president Sonny Costin said the RFID tracking system would accurately capture the movement of the racks within the horticultural supply chain enabling his company’s customers to optimize the use of the racks and would create opportunities for them to lower their costs.