NXP’s RFID Chip Offers Express Efficiency for TNT Innight’s Overnight Delivery Service

Utilizing RFID provides significant improvements in the company’s ability to manage delivery logistics, whilst also offering TNT Innight’s customers a more efficient track and trace service. The aim of the project was to enable returnable transport items to be tracked from the point of departure at the customer’s premises to the delivery locations, encompassing the entire supply chain back to the customer. During the initial three-month trial, TNT Innight worked with three customers in the agriculture, installation and medical industries to deliver returnable transport items to several delivery locations.

“RFID could offer TNT Innight significant improvements to our business. Individually bar-coded returnable transport items enable tracking – however, they require an investment in man-hours to scan each and every label at different locations in the supply chain and poorly printed or damaged labels increase scanning times,” said Nico Bossenbroek, manager Business Engineering & ICS, TNT Innight. “Working closely with some of our customers, the purpose of the field trial was to use RFID in real-life conditions and to determine the feasibility of rolling-out the technology throughout the business. In addition, the data created from the trial could be used to inform where further improvements to our service can be made.”

Based on proven technology, the IPEX Group incorporate NXP’s ultra-high frequency UCODE G2XL smart label ICs into labels used to track 2,000 boxes around the Netherlands. Chosen specifically for the project, the UCODE G2XL chip offered TNT Innight long read ranges and improved performance in dense reader environments.

“As a technology, RFID enables greater efficiencies by providing improved management of shipments throughout the supply chain,” said Dirk Morgenroth, director marketing, RFID, NXP Semiconductors. “The additional data collected about the trends in movements of consignments and customer return rates will help TNT Innight plan its delivery routes better, whilst also enabling TNT’s customers to better manage their returns.”

Since the project’s conception in 2007, the possibility of using RFID within the supply chain to boost efficiency has resulted in TNT Innight funding from Syntens, a not-for-profit organization funded by the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs. The project offers tremendous possibilities and offers the potential for The Netherlands to develop into a major logistics hub and stimulate the collaboration of leading businesses across a wide range of industries, as demonstrated by TNT Innight, NXP and IPEX Group.