Reporting of fixed tangible assets becomes much faster and easier with modern RFID technologies
Entities, regardless of their legal form, shall inventory their assets at least once a year in order to present assets and liabilities fairly in the financial statements. Additional inventories can also be carried out by decision of the management. Their purpose can be different. For example, when a trucking company prepares its trucks for the road, it must be sure that they are equipped with all the necessary props – from flashlights, through first aid kits, to documents for crossing the border.
All tangible fixed assets, such as buildings, machinery, equipment, equipment, vehicles, vehicles, road surfaces, computers, peripherals and many others, are subject to inventory. Some of them can be scrapped, while others can change their location. Even a small branch of a company has an impressive amount of assets, for the inventory of which a whole team of employees is engaged.
The process is not only laborious and lengthy, but also fraught with the risk of errors, and any misreported asset can lead to indirect losses for the company.
THE SOLUTION
Various software products have been developed that automate the process and make it much faster and easier to implement. Especially suitable for any type of business is the ELTRADE INVENTORY software. It is based on Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology, a form of wireless communication that uses radio waves to identify and track objects. A characteristic feature of this technology is that instead of standard paper labels, objects are marked with tags (microchip labels) that can be read remotely with a mobile scanner. The solution is also available in a version developed on the basis of barcode technology.
WHERE APPLICABLE
ELTRADE INVENTORY is a suitable solution for a wide range of businesses – retail outlets, hotels, banks, schools and universities, libraries, healthcare facilities, manufacturing enterprises, practically – for any organization that owns fixed tangible assets that are subject to accounting.
FROM GAS STATIONS TO COMPUTER MICE
The first company to trust the solution developed by Eltrade is OMV. The chain of gas stations operates with 100 sites throughout the country, which, in addition to fuels, oils and car washes, offer freshly prepared snacks, drinks and other types of products suitable for travel.
The company’s assets, which are subject to inventory, are worth millions of levs – from land and gas stations to coffee machines, flags and playground facilities. Ten regional managers are each responsible for 10 sites. Some of the assets are subject to external influence, others – to thermal influence (in the kitchens of VIVA Cafe). The labels with which they are marked are accordingly consistent with the specific operating conditions.
Before implementing the software, OMV used three information systems, but none of them contained the full set of the company’s fixed assets, and this caused major problems during the annual and partial inventories of the property.
ELTRADE INVENTORY solves the problems with the localization of objects, and the system is able to store the movement history of each asset. Employees involved in inventory easily learn how to work with the product, and the time to perform the operation is drastically reduced.
The Commandant at the Ministry of Defense controls with ELTRADE INVENTORY not only its fixed assets, such as various IT devices – routers, antennas, etc., but also material stocks – from pots to computer mice. For the needs of the state structure, which uses a canteen catering solution with Detelina software, a special feature has been developed to report countable assets, such as forks and spoons, used in the canteens and bars of the Ministry.
HOW AIRPORT ASSETS ARE COUNTED
The simultaneous identification of a large number of assets, moreover, from a considerable distance and without direct visibility, as well as the easy search, change of location and tracking of the movement of objects between different locations, motivate the team of Gold Handling Bulgaria to choose the contactless inventory system of Eltrade. The subsidiary of the leading ground handling provider in Southeast Europe – the Greek Goldair Handling, offers a wide range of services at the airports of Sofia, Varna and Burgas – passenger service, baggage and cargo handling, aircraft handling on the ramp, flight administration and crew management, ticket sales offices, as well as other activities such as security and VIP services.
Before working with ELTRADE INVENTORY , the company enters the assets into Excel spreadsheets. In addition to the loss of time and the cost of additional personnel, this method of work often leads to material losses – luggage trolleys, radios and others disappear. With the system developed by Eltrade, the equipment and all equipment operated by the company are located quickly and successfully, while preventing abuse and errors in reporting and entering information.
METHOD BASED ON BARCODE TECHNOLOGY
As a more affordable solution, another client of Eltrade – the State Agency for Electronic Government (SEGA) at the Council of Ministers, chooses the option for inventory through a wireless barcode reader that reads barcode labels and allows mobility of the operator. With this method, an individual label is created for each asset and key information about it is available at any time. This improves the speed and accuracy of routine asset checks through easy access to data.
BY RADIO WAVES AND MICROCHIPS
With the help of an RFID reader, which is aimed at any point in the room, capturing radio waves even from microchips without direct visibility, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Forestry monitors its property. After winning a public procurement, Eltrade implemented the system in the central building of the ministry on Bul. “Hristo Botev”.
The Institute of Public Administration (IPA) also controls its fixed assets with the contactless inventory system ELTRADE INVENTORY. The product is also used by the State Agency for Refugees, which has multiple territorial divisions and manages three types of refugee centers. Through it, the agency controls, among other things, tangible assets such as blankets, towels and the like. The conclusion is that the ELTRADE INVENTORY is a solution which, in addition to carrying out the mandatory annual inventories, can also be used to exercise ongoing control over the property.
The private Jewish primary school “Ronald Lauder” at the organization of Jews in Bulgaria “Shalom” also reports, scraps, repairs and tracks the location of its tangible assets with ELTRADE INVENTORY.
AS A CLOUD SERVICE
Cargotech Bulgaria is another company that has chosen to monitor its office equipment with the contactless inventory system of Eltrade. The Bulgarian branch of the Finnish Cargotec offers services in the field of finance, procurement and supply, human packaging and information management, serving more than 10 markets, including countries and the United States. Unlike other users of ELTRADE INVENTORY , the company uses the system as a cloud-based service.
COMBINATION OF RFID AND BARCODE
The newest customer who has preferred Eltrade’s contactless inventory software is Bulstrad Insurance Company. In its head office, the company uses the solution based on radio frequency identification (RFID) technology, and in its other offices it performs the operation with a wireless barcode reader that reads barcode labels. One of the advantages of the system, which motivates not only Bulstrad, but also all other customers to choose it, is the possibility of preliminary transfer of data from accounting and ERP systems to the software, as well as the completion of the inventory process with a comparative balance sheet and inventory of items, which is exported to Microsoft Excel.
In other words, whether it’s office equipment in a multi-storey building, wheelchairs in a large hospital, tools and equipment in a factory, or pumping equipment in distant oil fields, RFID provides accurate, real-time tracking data for fixed and mobile assets. Barcode inventory is also a far more efficient alternative to manual serial number searches.
From all that has been said so far, it is clear that the advantages of contactless inventory are indisputable. The process is accelerated up to 20 times, and the resource savings are significant.
If you choose to modernize the inventory processes in your company with ELTRADE INVENTORY, Eltrade can also provide you with the mandatory components of the system – RFID identifiers (metal labels and tags), RFID and barcode readers for scanning labels, printers for their printing, computers for data collection and barcode labels for those who choose the method based on barcode technology.
