SUNNYVALE, Calif., April 14, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Trimble
(NASDAQ: TRMB) announced today that its RFID technology is being
used by Interstate Batteries to collect automotive battery
inventory in their distributed network of dealerships. The
solution, co-developed by technology company Seeonic and
Interstate, allows Interstate Batteries to have greater visibility
into their inventory in the field. The solution's hardware device,
SightWare, was designed using the ThingMagic®
Mercury®6e module and is manufactured by Trimble.
Interstate Batteries was looking for a more efficient method of
collecting battery data inventory in their distributed network of
dealerships. The previous method was manual, requiring personnel to
visit the store and count batteries on the racks. This was time
consuming and often inaccurate. By deploying the Seeonic solution,
Interstate Batteries can have true visibility into their battery
inventory on a more regular basis.
"As part of our continuing modernization effort, Interstate
wanted to develop a system for tracking inventory in our dealer
locations so we could provide them with even greater service.
Seeonic had a brilliant core technology and Interstate partnered
with them to create a commercial product. This automated system has
exceeded our expectations regarding accuracy and reliability,
providing unprecedented visibility of our shelf-level inventory.
Additionally, Seeonic and Interstate collaborated to modify this
technology to work in a delivery vehicle, installing it in 29 of
our trucks. We have used the technology in these trucks for over 12
months with equally positive results," said Bruce Hellen, Interstate Batteries director of
Business Practices.
Seeonic has been creating and perfecting this system for many
years. SightWare is designed to connect with multiple cell
carriers, leveraging both CDMA and GSM networks. Other connections
such as Ethernet and Wi-Fi are also available. The data is uploaded
to a cloud-based management platform called Seeniq. Once the
information is collected from all of the devices, Seeniq cleans up
the data and transfers it to Interstate, where their systems use it
to make recommendations for enhancing their delivery model.
"The complete system was built by Seeonic, Interstate and their
partners. The RFID tags were designed and manufactured by Smartrac.
The battery labels were printed and the RFID tags were encoded by
Flexo-Graphics. Trimble supplied the embedded ThingMagic M6e RFID
reader and performed the production engineering. Trimble also
manufactured the SightWare devices. Display Source Alliance
assembled Interstate's 'SmartRacks' and installed the technology in
the 29 delivery vehicles," said Harley
Feldman, co-founder and CEO of Seeonic.
Interstate Batteries began this pre-production program in
February of 2014, with over 2,000 installations up and
running. SightWare and Seeniq are producing 99.8 percent data
accuracy.
The SightWare devices and the Seeniq Web service are available
from Seeonic. For more information, visit:
www.seeonic.com.
Trimble's ThingMagic 4-port M6e offers high performance to meet
the requirements of the most demanding fixed position multi-antenna
reader applications, delivering a high read rate and RF power. It
will transmit up to +31.5 dBm and can read more than 750
tags/seconds.
RFID Journal Live! 2015 – San
Diego Convention Center, San
Diego, CA
Bruce Hellen will be featured as
one of the keynote speakers at the RFID Journal Live! 2015, the
industry's premier tradeshow and conference. He will speak about
Seeonic's solution applied to the inventory management of
Interstate's battery racks and trucks. Interstate Batteries was
also selected as one of three finalists for RFID Journal's Annual
Best Implementation Award with the winner to be announced at the
conference. For more information on the Seeonic solution powered by
Trimble RFID technology, visit:
- ThingMagic – Booth #912
- Seeonic and Smartrac – Booth #612
Bruce Hellen's keynote will take
place on Thursday, April 16, 2015 at
9:15 am.
About Trimble's ThingMagic Division
Trimble's ThingMagic Division is a leading provider of UHF RFID
reader engines, development platforms and design services for a
wide range of applications. ThingMagic develops products for
demanding high-volume applications and provides consulting and
design services to create solutions for challenging applications.
ThingMagic's customers include some of the world's largest
industrial automation firms, manufacturers, automotive companies,
retailers and consumer companies. Located in Woburn, Massachusetts, the ThingMagic business
was founded in 2000 by a group of visionary PhD graduates from
Massachusetts Institute of Technology's
Media Lab. ThingMagic is "The Engine in RFID™".
For more information, visit: www.thingmagic.com.
About Trimble
Trimble applies technology to make field and mobile workers in
businesses and government significantly more productive. Solutions
are focused on applications requiring position or
location—including surveying, construction, agriculture, fleet and
asset management, public safety and mapping. In addition to
utilizing positioning technologies, such as GPS, lasers and optics,
Trimble solutions may include software content specific to the
needs of the user. Wireless technologies are utilized to deliver
the solution to the user and to ensure a tight coupling of the
field and the back office. Founded in 1978, Trimble is
headquartered in Sunnyvale,
Calif.
For more information, visit: www.trimble.com.
GTRMB
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SOURCE Trimble