Manage a group of items as a single unit
With RFgen License Plating, you can intelligently manage a group of items as a single unit. This can improve the efficiency of your warehouse operations and streamline the transfer of inventory within your supply chain as well as to customers, retailers, and partners.
What is License Plating?
License plating is a method for grouping and managing inventory in the form of a container. You decide what constitutes a container—a pallet, product carton, truck or ocean freight box can all be a container. Each container is assigned a unique License Plate Number (LPN) and given a barcode label or RFID tag. With RFgen License Plating, you can manage logistics and track key information for a group of items with a single scan.
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License Plating flexibility for all types of information
A license plate can contain similar materials or mixed products. Once information is associated with the license plate, a dedicated barcode or RFID tag can be placed on the container, so that a single scan identifies and tracks every item within.
A license plate can be associated with information such as:
- Part numbers
- Item
- Quantity
- Revision
- Serial number
- Organization
- Date of manufacture
- Expiration date
- Lot number
- Location
- Inventory status
- Subinventory
License plating throughout the enterprise
While license plating and palette labels are often associated with outbound shipments, they can be beneficial throughout the supply chain.
In receiving
- Receive shipments faster – assign license plates to incoming parts and materials or upload vendor license plate information into your system ahead of time for single-scan receiving.
- Put away items in kits – create a license plate at the receiving docks to quickly kit for manufacturing.
- Flexible receiving - pack, unpack, consolidate, and split shipments in receiving by scanning and updating license plates.
On the shop floor
Use license plates with work orders to stage multiple inputs:
- Create a license plate of raw material - essentially a parts list you need to complete a work order.
- Pick these items from the warehouse - deliver the entire license plate of parts to the shop floor and stage the materials around the workflow.
- Manage consumption - workers can scan the license plate, measure how much material is being issued for the process, and subtract the amount from inventory.
- View inventory balances by license plate, so you can proactively stage more materials.
In the warehouse
Speed up picking in the warehouse with license plates:
- Identify the most popular items in your warehouse and ensure that the pick routes are short and timely.
- Use license plates to group products normally purchased together - instead of scanning individual products when an order for the group of products comes in, quickly scan one license plate.
- License plating supports nontraditional forms of picking, such as directed picking and wave picking.
On the shipping dock
- Confirm and track containers as they are loaded to ensure that all planned containers are accounted for, improving load accuracy and maximizing space. In transit, quick scans of license plates along the way help you keep customers informed of the status.
- Build and manage loads more easily – RFgen License Plating with load management functionality uses the information contained in multiple license plates to plan and manage routes, work within weight restrictions and create proper shipping documents. The load management functionality nests these license plates to create a single load that can be scanned as one overarching license plate.
- Print labels and shipping documents for bills of lading and Advanced Ship Notices (ASN).
Eight signs you need license plating
- Your warehouse operations are slow – use license plating to speed up warehouse operations by reducing manual data entry and scanning for receiving, putaway and picking.
- Too many inventory errors – barcode scanning coupled with license plating minimizes errors caused by accidentally skipping steps, missing items, or entering data incorrectly.
- You run out of inputs on the shop floor - lack of the right parts or ingredients at the right time in your manufacturing affects the speed of production.
- You can’t comply with labeling requests – more and more retailers insist on pallets and shipping containers being labeled.
- Tracking your products is difficult – License plating can improve your ability to track items in your warehouse and through your supply chain.
- You’re worried about lot tracking and food traceability – license plating can make it easier to capture critical information for faster response to audits and recalls.
- It’s difficult to plan and manage loads and shipments – a license plating solution with load management capabilities can help you plan your shipments.
- You need Advance Ship Notices (ASN) and use UCC 128 labels or Serial Shipping Container Codes (SSCC) – license plating enables you to comply with any of these EDI labeling requirements.