Overcoming Monumental Inventory Challenges: An RFID Case Study

This is a story about how Matthews Granite, a granite memorial, mausoleum, and columbarium manufacturer based in Elberton, Ga., implemented RFID to address its inventory challenges, and achieved dramatically impressive results. But it’s also a story about how one company’s RFID success can help prepare you for your own.

RFID success stories can be harder to come by than you might think. Not because they don’t exist, but because not all companies who are using RFID are comfortable with offering a peek into their technology mix. Consequently, starting down the path of an RFID implementation can feel like taking a giant professional leap of faith – particularly without knowledge of an existing success story you can identify with on some level, in terms of industry, use case, or even environmental challenges.

The beauty of Matthews Granite’s RFID success story lies in its inherent relatability. Chances are, you’re not a fellow granite memorial manufacturer – but you may be a manufacturer with similar materials handling processes, or you may supply components to a larger manufacturing operation. Matthews’ use case also is instantly accessible: make taking a product inventory more efficient. What business involved in stocking, storing, distributing, or selling products can’t relate to that? As for challenges, Matthews’ heavy, ponderous product line and elemental exposure posed several challenges – all of which were addressed and overcome – which should be reassuring news, hopefully, given whatever particular challenges your use case may pose.

As you read through the case study, note the following details of the Matthews Granite RFID story that helped contribute to the overall project success.

• They have an internal RFID champion who identified a need, researched options, and promoted the technology within the company.
• The components involved in the solution are solid and appropriate to Matthews’ needs: Zebra handheld RFID readers and an industrial RFID printer, Alien RFID tags, and software from Strategic Systems (RFID-based Asset Tracking and StrategicRFID Mobile).
• They identified a specific, measurable goal that gave them the ability to directly quantify the ROI of their RFID solution. Taking an inventory was a manual process that used to involve multiple employees and required approximately 2,800 man hours over the course of a few weeks. It now takes four employees less than two hours, from start to finish.

The essential takeaway is this: the professional leap of faith you may be hesitating to take toward RFID has more solid footing than you realize. Talk to your RFID solutions provider about their customer success stories. Make sure their experiences resonate with your understanding of your project. Contact us – we’re ready to talk about your RFID needs.

In the meantime, check out this video overview of the Matthews Granite success story, or read the full case study here.