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IFCO's asset tracking produces results

A digital-based color wheel track-and-trace technology for IFCO’s RPCs brings ‘tremendous’ benefits.

IFCO's new returnable plastic containers receive 'color wheel' and bar code labels for asset tracking, though the color wheels c
IFCO's new returnable plastic containers receive 'color wheel' and bar code labels for asset tracking, though the color wheels c

IFCO Systems North America, Tampa, FL, is one of the first users in North America for ImageID’s Visidot™ technology for asset tracking. Visidot is claimed as a more robust application than bar codes and is said to be a lower-cost, more reliable alternative to radio-frequency identification (RFID) for track-and-trace purposes. It also permits simultaneous capture of data for multiple items; for example, an entire pallet load of Visidot-labeled assets can be read at once.

“It’s designed to track our assets–reusable plastic containers,” says Fred Heptinstall, senior vice president and general manager. “It’s a pretty slick system.” The IFCO-owned RPCs are leased to the company’s customers, which are grower and produce marketers.

IFCO’s system uses two parallel identifiers on separate 1¼2”x2” pressure-sensitive labels. There’s a one-dimensional European article number (EAN) 128 bar code on one, and on the other is Visidot’s ColorCode™, a series of four “color wheels” that is unique for each RPC. Each color represents a number, and so the combination of the numbers on the four color wheels is, in effect, a serialized, individualized number (see sidebar p. 44).

The ColorCode, which is digitally scanned by a Visidot reader, can be read at a more extreme angle than a bar code. Every RPC on an entire pallet load can be identified at once using the ColorCode technology. Visidot claims a proven read rate of 99.7% accuracy for millions of RPCs.

“The idea is that the ColorCode can be read using fixed digital cameras, and the bar codes can be read using conventional bar-code readers,” Heptinstall explains.

Although the ColorCode is the key identifier, the bar code provides RPC identification for portions of IFCO’s supply chain where the Visidot reader is not used.

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