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Atlanta Mercedes Dealership to Adopt RFID at New Location
For example, Powell notes, MyDealerLot can track the number of times a particular vehicle has been test-driven, providing invaluable sales and customer information. "We will be able to have a real-time inventory picture [around the clock] that will provide vehicle status—both incoming and on our lot—lot configuration information, consumer guide data, and location information," he says. "Additionally, we will be able to perform inventory counting by exception, and have sales information associated with each vehicle. We will also be able to have better visibility and accuracy of the inventory's aging data."
In addition, the dealership's service department will be able to use the RTLS to locate vehicles on the lot that need to be prepped for customer delivery or need service. According to Powell, RBM is installing 13 location receivers throughout its lot—on the corners of the lot, attached to light posts and on the building. Four exciters will be mounted at the lot's entrances and exits, to record when cars move in and out of the dealership.
Encoded with a unique identifier that is then "married" to a specific car's VIN stored in the MyDealerLot software, the tags will be hooked onto the rear-view mirror of its assigned vehicle. For the initial implementation, RBM anticipates tagging 250 cars.
The RTLS is expected to be much easier to use than the bar-code system the dealership currently uses at its flagship location in Atlanta. There, a sticker with a unique bar-code number is applied to each car, and inventory information is downloaded from the dealership's DMS into handheld PDAs equipped with bar-code readers and a custom-developed application. "We walk the lot, which is 11 acres at that site, and scan each vehicle, noting its location," Powell states. "After completing the lot check, we upload the data from the PDAs into an SQL database and run discrepancy reports. It is accurate, but labor intensive."
MyDealerLot is headquartered in Roswell, Ga. George Cresto, the company's founder and president, started MyDealerLot approximately 16 months ago. Cresto had been following RFID, and realized the technology's tracking and inventory management functionality could provide real benefits to automobile dealerships. The company provides the MyDealerLot system as a hosted service, working with dealerships to install and set up the system at each site.
On June 8, MyDealerLot announced version 2 of its Web-based, hosted RTLS, which includes off-the-shelf integration with KEYper Systems' key management devices. When a sales associate or service technician pulls a specific key from a kiosk, the kiosk displays the corresponding car's physical lot location on its computer screen.
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In addition, the dealership's service department will be able to use the RTLS to locate vehicles on the lot that need to be prepped for customer delivery or need service. According to Powell, RBM is installing 13 location receivers throughout its lot—on the corners of the lot, attached to light posts and on the building. Four exciters will be mounted at the lot's entrances and exits, to record when cars move in and out of the dealership.
Encoded with a unique identifier that is then "married" to a specific car's VIN stored in the MyDealerLot software, the tags will be hooked onto the rear-view mirror of its assigned vehicle. For the initial implementation, RBM anticipates tagging 250 cars.
The RTLS is expected to be much easier to use than the bar-code system the dealership currently uses at its flagship location in Atlanta. There, a sticker with a unique bar-code number is applied to each car, and inventory information is downloaded from the dealership's DMS into handheld PDAs equipped with bar-code readers and a custom-developed application. "We walk the lot, which is 11 acres at that site, and scan each vehicle, noting its location," Powell states. "After completing the lot check, we upload the data from the PDAs into an SQL database and run discrepancy reports. It is accurate, but labor intensive."
On June 8, MyDealerLot announced version 2 of its Web-based, hosted RTLS, which includes off-the-shelf integration with KEYper Systems' key management devices. When a sales associate or service technician pulls a specific key from a kiosk, the kiosk displays the corresponding car's physical lot location on its computer screen.
