A chain is only as strong as its weakest link, so the saying goes. When it comes to the current state of the global supply chain, weak links are everywhere. Today, massive dislocations can be found in the container market, shipping routes, ports, air cargo, trucking lines, railways, and even warehouses. These weaknesses are, in turn, leading to shortages of key manufacturing components, creating order backlogs, delivery delays, and a spike in transportation costs and consumer prices. “The current situation demands businesses to accurately know the specifics of what product they have, in what quantity, and in which location, along the supply chain,” shares Booth Kalmbach, a seasoned entrepreneur and start-up executive. “The more detail you have about inventory and assets and the more knowledge you have of your supply chain, the better are your chances to deliver product to customers efficiently and cost-effectively.”

So what can businesses do to improve their visibility into the supply chain and inventory levels while keeping their operational cost low?

“While the digital transformation of the enterprise has already shown us how to streamline the many disjointed processes of supply chain management, digitizing assets and inventory is the final frontier toward controlling product even more precisely and efficiently,” answers Kalmbach. Interestingly, helping business in this regard is where Kalmbach’s company, Trilliott, cements its cornerstone. “Our mission is digitizing traditional supply chain and warehouse management processes to improve inventory transparency,” adds Kalmbach, founder and CEO of Trilliott.

To this extent, Trilliott has developed—SmartSITE™—a radio frequency identification (RAIN) RFID-based supply chain, warehouse, and asset management solution for businesses that provides centralized visibility of inventory and assets across both warehouses and on-site locations. It comes with cloud-based dashboards with visual information and handheld RFID scanners that enable businesses to track and manage their inventories in real-time with high levels of accuracy, thus reducing manual labor to achieve the same. “Moreover, while traditional means of assets or inventory tracking shows 60-70 percent accuracy, SmartSITE can bring about 90-95 percent accuracy in tracking—which translates to huge cost savings for businesses as they can automatically get a snapshot of inventory as it transits to their suppliers and need not to overstock their inventories,” shares Kalmbach.

Our mission is digitizing traditional supply chain and warehouse management processes to improve inventory transparency

What’s more? SmartSITE comes with blockchain capabilities, giving businesses the option to add their warehouse and supply chain-related information on a distributed ledger for an added layer of security. Michael Tollison—VP of Sales and Marketing at Trilliott—highlights that due to the addition of blockchain, businesses can not only track high-value assets from purchase to the end of their lifecycle but also connect it with bills of material and validate completeness. “This way, they can engage with the real-time immutable status of assets,” notes Tollison.

Elaborating the value proposition of Trilliott further, Tollison shares a case study wherein his company partnered with a very large automotive manufacturer and supplier. The client was trying to gain better control over inventory accuracy throughout their supply chain. To meet this demand, Trilliott developed simplified handheld RAIN RFID scanners for the client, which was an absolute game-changer for the client as they could track the supply chain at a high degree of accuracy and from a much longer distance. But that’s not all! Soon after the implementation, the client received a mandate from one of their automotive partners to start using RFID tracking technology. “Fortunately, our partnership had already started by then, which put our client one step ahead of the situation to meet this mandate head-on,” recalls Tollison. Consequently, the client was able to prove the accuracy of its newlyimplemented RAIN RFID-based tracking processes by comparing their tracking reports with the automotive partner’s tracking records. “We could immediately showcase a high correlation and improved accuracy in our tracking data,” shares Tollison.

It is also important to note that Trilliott offers a similar RFID-based tracking solution specifically for the healthcare industry as SmartSITE for Clinics™. The novel and comprehensive solution was launched for rapid deployment of new COVID-19 community clinics in any location—from remissioned cafeterias to gyms and even field hospitals. SmartSITE for Clinics improves the deployment speed and accuracy of durable medical equipment (DME) and consumables like PPE and test kits. Healthcare businesses can even maintain an immutable ledger of their test kits with blockchain.

Moving ahead, Trilliott has plans to enhance its capabilities even further. The company has some lofty goals, particularly in terms of automating the entire asset control task using the next generation of RAIN RFID technology. “That only seems like the next logical step for Trilliott, as we are already focusing a lot in the arena,” states Kalmbach. Alongside this, the company is also looking to expand its geographic footprints across the U.S. All in all, Trilliott is set to change the traditional ways of asset management with its bold plans. The future, therefore, shines bright for the company.