Oct 02, 2012Banque Libano-Française (BLF) is one of three major Middle Eastern financial institutions that is tracking assets via Passport Asset, an RFID-based solution provided by California-based inventory-, asset- and item-tracking technology firm ASAP Systems. The bank operates 50 branches throughout Lebanon, and is tracking 50,000 items, including furniture, IT equipment, phones, bank equipment and cars. Thanks to Passport Asset, BLF reports, the company is reducing labor costs and gaining greater visibility by ensuring that a physical inventory count can be quickly performed at any and all branches, without disturbing staff members or customers.
Due to the company's sheer size, as well as the geographic area in which its branches are located, BLF has found tracking its asset inventory to be challenging. To conduct such an inventory count, employees at each branch have had to locate every item's printed serial number, manually check off that item on a printed list, and then send the results to a central office. But the process was time-consuming and prone to errors, the company notes. In addition, there was also the risk of workers injuring themselves as they moved heavy furniture or electronics in order to read serial numbers.
In 2010, the bank installed a solution that allowed staff members to scan a bar-coded label on each item, rather than record serial numbers by hand. However, the process demanded that workers first pinpoint each bar code, often by pulling a piece of furniture or electronic equipment away from a wall. "We noticed that with bar codes, we couldn't perform inventories in a timely manner," says Gabriel Rizk, BLF's head of general services,
The bank sought a method for its staff to conduct inventory counts more easily, and for the company to be able to view a report in real time in the event of a discrepancy, such as an item found to be missing.
The biggest challenge BLF faced in identifying a suitable solution, Rizk says, was finding a system that would "perform a fast and precise physical inventory." The solution needed to allow the asset-management team to perform an inventory within a single day, he notes, without disturbing the bank's staff or customers.
With the ASAP system in place, personnel carry a handheld reader through each room of a branch, capturing the unique ID numbers of all tags within the vicinity. The handheld can also scan bar codes, if necessary. As the tag IDs are read, the device can forward that information to the Passport software, residing on BLF's back-end database, via a Wi-Fi connection, or by being docked once the process is completed.
In the Passport software, each unique ID number is linked to the particular item to which it is attached, including its description and serial number. Also linked to that ID is the location (bank branch or office) at which that asset is expected to be located. Once the inventory process is complete, the list of tag IDs is compared against the list of items assigned to that area. The IDs of missing or unexpected assets are highlighted on the handheld's screen, as well as in the Passport Asset software. In that way, the bank management knows what inventory is located at each branch, when something ends up missing, how long each asset has been at that location, and when it may need to be replaced or maintained.
In July 2012, ASAP Systems also released BarCloud, a hosted version of the software, enabling customers to access RFID data via the Internet for a monthly fee rather than purchasing the software outright.
For example, Touma says, a month after a customer acquires the solution, its users may decide they need another function, such as a special report, separate databases on which only managers can view the combined data, or the inclusion of additional data-collection fields on handheld units. "The customers can buy these additional features as modules for a few hundred dollars at any time," he explains. For larger customers, ASAP can custom-design a system to meet their unique requirements.
In the future, Rizk says, BLF intends to install fixed readers to automate the tracking of assets, thereby eliminating the need for its staff to walk throughout the facility carrying handhelds in order to conduct inventory counts—though he does not indicate when that would take place.
Last year, two other Lebanese banks began utilizing the RFID-based Passport Asset system to track assets: Societe Generale de Banque au Liban (SGBL), which operates 66 branches, and FransaBank, with 108 branches.
