GSA Warehouse Tracks the Locations of Goods

Installation and use of the system, Tiplady says, "was the non-event I was hoping it would be. Our business processes did not change dramatically." To assist the staff in using the technology, XIO Strategies provided a one-week RFID course.

Douglas Litten, SAIC's RFID program manager

According to Tiplady, the GSA will continue to review how it will use the system to gain greater visibility within its warehouses, though it hopes initially to benefit through a reduction in loading problems, thanks to the alert function for warehouse staff members. Whether the system will save the facility time in its loading process has yet to be decided. "We have established our baseline metrics and will measure the gained efficiencies over the next months," he states. "I don't think we've even scratched the surface for what we can do."

Tiplady hopes to utilize the system to record the arrival of items, already tagged with RFID labels by the suppliers of those goods, and track where they are stored throughout the warehouse. This, he says, would require the installation of additional readers.

The installation is significant for the DOD as well, Bigbee notes, since the GSA provides a large percentage of all supplies received by the military. By tagging its own products, the agency is helping the DLA in its efforts to track more shipments with RFID. The GSA and DLA together represent about 80 percent of the DOD's supplies. By completing this installation at French Camp, Bigbee says, "the GSA is helping fulfill the vision the DOD has had for a while."