Keeping tabs on Returnable Transport Items (RTI)
About 90% of all packaging and shipping materials are discarded by the end user. Acsis Asset Management has to do with the other 10%, the millions of dollars invested in reusable, returnable product delivery materials that are not simply written off as part of the overhead. These are capital assets - custom totes, cases, tanks, gas cylinders, that are good for years of service. They play a critical role in delivering product to the customer, a key factor in shipping versus not shipping or being able to run a manufacturing line or not.
Often, these assets are in short supply and not managed at the level that you need, even though your ERP system says you have enough on hand. The problem might simply be that they are "out there somewhere" in the supply chain, unaccounted for and (worst case) not recoverable. Why? Because ERP systems are rarely tasked with monitoring how these kinds of assets are deployed.
Chances are if the ERP system cannot give you a clear picture of "what's where,” you buy more than you need to ensure that shipments won't be delayed. You might also be missing critical information, such as inspection requirements of gas cylinders or re-calibration of product dispensers.
This is where Acsis comes into the picture.
Acsis Asset Management is one of a suite of Acsis ProducTrak applications designed to complement your ERP system. All seven applications share a common middleware platform, Acsis VisiTrak, which runs independently of the ERP. VisiTrak is there 24/7 to take instructions from ERP, process them, orchestrate their execution, then post to ERP either in real time, action-by-action, or on task completion.
ProducTrak Asset Management keeps tabs on your delivery system, no matter what business you are in - chemical, life sciences, food products, whatever - any product shipped in containers that can be reused time and again.
Asset Management supports any combination of asset labeling methods, including linear and 2D barcodes, RFID tagging and other permanent marking methodologies. The application comes with a set of customizable reports that deliver a complete picture of asset deployment, parsed in any way you choose - by user, date, time, location, status. You can put an end to the guesswork, now. Knowing exactly how your assets are deployed can be a lot less costly than overbuying for safety, or under-buying to preserve cash.
In this example, a chemical products company ships gases in cylinders, fluids in drums. Some containers have a defined service life, others not: the common denominator is that they cost too much to be discarded before their time.
By using a web browser, outside organizations and partners can track your company's asset movements using the same transactional processes as you do in your facility, with all of the same editing and check and balances necessary to ensure reliable supply chain visibility. The VisiTrak web services interface allows full two-way communication to support real-time processing and error-notification by the Acsis Asset Management Solution.
Close-coupled organizations with broader needs (Customer C) can use the integration capability of a standalone VisiTrak server within their facility to incorporate data from Asset Management, and possibly other applications from the ProducTrak suite. This is a full-featured setup that allows product tracking to any level of granularity, including real-time monitoring of product consumption.
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The Acsis ProducTrak Asset Management solution allows for individualized asset control by including time sensitive criteria, like expiration or required calibration dates, and other context data relevant to the asset or type of asset.
Reporting, asset status displays, warnings, and email alerts are all compiled in real-time, allowing immediate and proactive management decisions, confirmations, and actions if required. Because communicating this information can be important, reports can easily be exported to several common formats such as excel and .pdf formats.
The ProducTrak Asset Management solution includes three layers of functionality, each tailored to specific business roles. The layers are:
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Transaction Management, which integrates with your devices and sensor networks to collect basic data.
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Process Management for automating your operational processes, integrating data, and adding additional context for your data.
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Business Management, for improved situational awareness with actionable dashboards to manage key areas of your manufacturing and supply chain operations.
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