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smaRTE
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Accurate, high-speed stock counting, tracking, and tracing to improve stock replenishment, while reducing unnecessary manual counting, shrinkage, and high safety stock levels costs.
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RPA TECHNOLOGY
WHAT IS RPA
Robotic process automation (RPA) is a software technology that makes it easy to build, deploy, and manage software robots that mimic the way humans interact with digital systems and software to perform high-volume, repeatable tasks. RPA technology uses software programmes, also known as "robots" or "bots", to perform the task on a computer, using the same interface a human worker would, to log into applications, enter data, calculate and complete tasks, and copy data between applications or workflow as required.
WHERE IS RPA USED
RPA is usually employed in situations where there is a need to automate day-to-day manual tasks that are repeatable. This usually involves data capture, application configuration, validation of client files, creation of test data, data loads, and report generation. RPA is best suited when these tasks occur multiple times per day.
General Examples:
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Customer Service
RPA helps organisations to provide better customer service by automating contact centre tasks, uploading scanned documents, and verifying information for automatic approvals or rejections. -
Accounting
RPA is used to automate tasks for general accounting, operational accounting, transactional reporting, and budgeting. -
Financial Services
RPA assists the financial services industry in doing foreign exchange payments, automating account openings and closings, managing audit requests, and processing insurance claims. -
Healthcare
Medical Aid Providers, Medical practices, Hospitals, and Clinics use RPA to handle patient records, claims, customer support, account management, billing, reporting, and analytics. -
Human Resources
RPA can automate HR tasks such as onboarding, offboarding, updating employee information, timesheet submissions, and many more. -
Supply Chain Management
RPA is used in supply chain management in procurement, automating order processing and payments, monitoring inventory levels, and tracking shipments.
WHY YOU SHOULD CONSIDER RPA
Digital robots are far more efficient and accurate than humans and they can run 24/7/365. Some robots run without human intervention ("unattended robots"), while others do require humans to launch, intervene or provide approval during the task ("attended robots").
WHEN TO CONSIDER RPA
If you have repeatable, manual processes in your operational environment that are unnecessarily consuming up a lot of your employees' time and keeping them away from more productive and valuable work, then you should consider incorporating RPA into your operations.
smaRTE Solutions using RPA:
smaRTE Bots
Automate your repeatable, labour-intensive operational processes to maximize efficiencies, improve process accuracy, and reassign staff to more profitable, creative tasks.
Examples of operational applications for RPA technology:
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Blood result reviews in healthcare - Automatically receive blood results sent by the test lab and assess whether normal or abnormal. If normal, notify the patient via SMS. If abnormal, automatically alert the relevant doctor who requested the blood tests.
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Daily report generation in manufacturing, assembly, automotive etc. - Automatically log into various, separate production systems and collect the relevant data into a single database. Then produce an automated, consolidated daily report for the leadership team and email it to them before the end of the day.
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Automated alerting and/or halting of production in manufacturing & assembly, or mining - Monitor various sensors within the production environment and automatically alert the relevant people if pre-determined thresholds are exceeded, or stop production if an emergency is detected.
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Power load shedding & shifting in smart buildings - Monitor the real-time demand and consumption of electricity in a building and automatically switch off non-essential loads during peak demand times, or shift the run time of certain equipment to operate during non-peak times. this minimises peak demand and consumption costs.
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What is RFID technology used for?Radio Frequency Identification Technology (RFID) is a multi-purpose technology. It is the most cost-effective way to electronically identify, count and track items that your organisation values. RFID is used in many different industries to save time, increase productivity and decrease costs. It has been quite widely adopted in industries like retail, manufacturing and assembly, warehousing and logistics, automotive, mining, construction, and healthcare.
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Where is RFID used in daily life?Stock Management in Retail RFID labels can be found on the items purchased from many market-leading retail stores. The Foschini Group in south Africa use RFID to perform high-speed inventory counts (up to 300 items per second). RFID helped them to increase their inventory accuracy to 99%. Many retailers use RFID to optimise their inventory management, as well as to track and trace their inventory as it moves through their supply chain. Watch these videos below from our global partner to find out more: Access Control in Buildings and Facilities RFID technology is incorporated in most modern access control cards. These RFID-enabled cards provide unique identification of people when entering or exiting sites and buildings. Financial Transactions using Debit & Credit Cards Debit and credit cards use a version of RFID technology called Near-Field Communication (NFC). This technology makes it quick and easy to authorise transactions by tapping the card on a mobile payment device instead of inserting the card and entering the PIN. Identifying and Tracking Staff, Patients, Equipment, and Consumables Many modern hospitals use RFID to track nurses, patients, equipment, supplies and medication. RFID technology helps hospitals to transform the way they manage the hospital and care for patients. Identifying and Tracking parts in Vehicles Automotive part suppliers and manufacturers use RFID to track parts, work in progress (WIP), and tools as they move through the value chain. RFID technology helps the automotive industry to reduce costs, save time and work smarter. Improving the Management and Security of Keys in Car Dealerships Many car dealerships and car service businesses use specialised key cabinets or key rooms to control the access to keys. These keys have RFID fobs attached to them to provide unique identification of each key. See our smaRTE Keys solution for more information, or watch the video below:
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What does passive vs. active RFID mean?Passive RFID Passive RFID tags have no batteries. This means that the RFID reader temporarily energises the RFID tag through the electromagnetic field that it emanates, just enough for the tag to transmit its globally unique “Electronic Product Code” (EPC) that identifies the tag and the item that it is attached to. Active RFID Active RFID tags have built-in batteries and an internal transmitter in the form of a beacon or transponder. This means that an active RFID tag can transmit signals to an RFID reader over longer ranges – sometimes up to 150 metres. Active RFID tags can be used for real-time tracking and tracing as items move.
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Is RFID anti-theft?An RFID anti-theft system can be used to detect tagged items that pass through an entrance, verify if those items have been purchased and trigger an acoustic and/or visual alarm if any item has not been purchased. As an optional extra, RFID loss prevention hardware can be connected to a cloud software application. The products that trigger an alarm can then be shown on a smartphone, managed by store or security staff to alert and register events such as false alarms, thwarted theft, and theft. For more information, watch this video from one of our global RFID partners:
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What are the benefits of RFID?Below are some examples of the operational benefits of employing RFID into your environment: High-speed, accurate inventory counts (up to 300 items per second, 99% accuracy). Can detect and find “hidden” objects. Quick variance resolution. Lower Inventory Levels. Free up valuable working capital. Improve sales & customer service. Optimised stock turn. Lower shrinkage. Count inventory as often as required. Intelligent asset management. More in-depth, real-time management information. Increased Return-on-operating-Assets (RooA) and profitability as a result.
