RFID Journal announced today that Jonathon McCutcheon, Carvana‘s director of supply chain product, will present a case study at RFID Journal LIVE! 2019, titled “Carvana Uses RFID to Drive Efficiency and Customer Satisfaction“. This session is just one of several case studies that will be offered during the conference program’s Supply Chain and Logistics Track.
McCutcheon will explain how Carvana is employing radio frequency identification to locate and expedite the processing of its cars at four inspection centers and at dozens of hubs. With an RFID tag affixed to each vehicle, as well as RFID readers at its facilities, the company can track when cars are received, inspected, serviced and shipped to local market sites.
Carvana, founded in 2012, is a national vehicle retailer that delivers cars to online shoppers. Users of its system can browse for and purchase vehicles, set up a financing program and sell their existing car over the Internet. The management of these vehicles as they pass from seller to Carvana, and ultimately to a buyer, is highly complex. At any given time, the firm has tens of thousands of cars around the United States that are in various stages of inspection, repair or upgrades, or are being delivered to a customer’s home.
The company needed to manage the movements of trailers into and out of its inspection and service locations, as well as to hubs. “Obviously, when you’re based on a go-to-market delivery process, logistics plays a huge role, as well as inventory management,” McCutcheon told RFID Journal’s Claire Swedberg (see RFID Drives Efficiency, Sales for Carvana). Since the system was installed, the company reports, it has led to greater utilization of containers and other equipment, as well as more efficient labor management and a reduction in charges from shippers due to shipping delays.
Attendees at LIVE! 2019 will gain insights into the types of RFID tags and readers Carvana used, how they were deployed, how obstacles were overcome and the keys to a successful RFID deployment in a complex supply chain. In addition to Carvana, the conference program will also feature case studies presented by other automotive companies, including Daimler, which will deliver a keynote address on Apr. 2, titled “RFID Drives Innovation at Mercedes.”
In addition to the supply chain track, LIVE! 2019 will feature four industry-specific tracks—Retail and Apparel, Manufacturing, Health Care/Pharmaceuticals and Defense/Aerospace—along with Innovation, Technology and Internet of Things tracks. There will also be six in-depth workshops on Apr. 2, fast-track training presented by RFID4U, the RFID Journal Awards, RFID Professional Institute certification training and the co-located IEEE RFID 2019 event. What’s more, the exhibition hall will offer access to some 200 RFID solution providers from 26 countries. To learn more about RFID Journal LIVE! 2019, visit the event’s website.