RFID Sweetens Imperial's Shipping Process

The product data and pallet ID number are transmitted to a server on the plant floor, which directs it to the company's warehouse management system via a cabled connection. There, iSum (Intelligent Stock Use and Movements) asset-management software, written by Xterprise, directs the data to Ryder Logistics, iGPS' third-party data manager, which stores the data and provides shipping, delivery and billing data to iGPS. Lowe equates the system to a fishing boat, with iSum acting as a fishing net bringing fish onto a boat, and Ryder being the boat that brings the data home.

When shipments arrive at an RFID-enabled retailer—Wal-Mart, for instance—RFID interrogators read the pallet tags, affording Imperial and iGPS another glimpse into the shipment's location. Once unloaded, the pallets are sent to pooling areas located near major retail stores. At these sites, Lowe says, Alien interrogators provide iGPS with its second (or third, in the case of some Wal-Mart shipments) reading of that pallet's tag, alerting the company that the pallet has been emptied and is ready for reuse.

At present, Imperial is in the process of installing RFID readers at its own additional product storage locations near its two refineries, as well as in the Houston area. This will provide the company another RFID read when a loaded pallet is brought into and out of the center en route to the retailer. Eventually, DeBow predicts, more retailers will install readers at their own dock doors, providing additional data to Imperial and iGPS.

"This is absolutely working well," DeBow states. "The [staff at] the plants couldn't be happier." Just having the recycled plastic pallets at about the same price as wooden pallets was an advantage, he says, adding that the RFID tracking "was certainly a bonus."

According to Lowe, there are currently 2 billion wooden pallets in use within the United States. The iGPS pallet offers an environmental benefit, he claims, because it is made entirely of recycled plastic, which is melted and reused whenever a pallet breaks. "You won't see one of these pallets in a landfill," he says, indicating that wooden pallets account for 20 percent of all wood waste in landfills.

The pallets measure 48 inches in length and 40 inches in width, DeBow says, and are 30 percent lighter than wooden pallets. He says he expects this to provide a savings in transportation fuel usage as well.

Imperial has signed an exclusive agreement with iGPS to be the only sugar company using the pallets for the next year.