BY SUSAN K. LACEFIELD, ASSOCIATE MANAGING EDITOR
WIRELESS SOLUTIONS
technologyreview
Until 2006, Kraft’s trailer
tracking activities looked
more like a game of hide
and seek than an orderly
yard management process.
Some low-cost RFID tags,
software, and a GPS
changed all that.
no more
hide and seek
IT’S HARD TO MANAGE WHAT YOU CAN’T SEE. AT LEAST THAT’S WHAT FOOD AND BEVerage giant Kraft Foods found when it came to the yards at its distribution centers.
With revenues of more than $37 billion, Kraft is one of the world’s largest food and beverage
companies, and its yards are a hive of activity. Throughout the day, carriers are constantly dropping off empty trailers, yard tractors are moving those trailers from parking spots to dock doors,
and carriers are returning to pick up the trailers, now filled with cases of Kraft Macaroni and
Cheese and Cheez Whiz, Nabisco cookies and crackers, Jell-O gelatin, and Oscar Mayer meats.
Up until about two years ago, the company kept track of all these movements with clipboards
and spreadsheets. Employees worked as spotters, roaming the yard and writing down the location
of each trailer. But with the constant activity, it was impossible to keep up to date on the exact location of every piece of equipment in the yard, let alone ensure that the yard activities were being
carried out as efficiently as possible.
“The main issues for us were trying to eliminate the very manual and time-consuming trailer
tracking and tracing and yard checks that we were doing,” says Kelly Rae, associate director, route
to market for Kraft. “Also, we knew there must be some efficiencies around our spotting services
and equipment.”
