Every trailer. Every dock. Every pallet. Reconciled in real time.
TRACIO delivers RTLS and Passive RFID programmes for 3PL and DC operators: dock-door reconciliation, yard truck location, forklift safety and utilisation, returnable container tracking. Integrated with Manhattan, Blue Yonder, SAP EWM, Körber.
Logistics & 3PL: the use case, and the numbers it moves.
The right radio for each job — chosen, never sold — mapped to your use case. That is what makes the ROI fast.
1 · Read
Passive RFID reads every pallet at the dock door, automatically.
2 · Locate
BLE and UWB track trailers, cages and high-value assets across the yard.
3 · Reconcile
Inbound and outbound are matched live into your WMS and TMS.
Passive RFID → dock · BLE → yard · UWB → high-value
What we keep seeing in Logistics programmes.
Manual dock reconciliation
Goods-receipt audits done by humans miss or over-state inbound. Inventory accuracy slowly bleeds away.
Yard 'where is it?'
Trailers parked. Yard truck assignments verbal. Dispatch makes the wrong move because no one has the live picture.
Forklift safety & misuse
Forklift incidents have a human and an insurance cost. Utilisation is misread because there's no operational signal.
The use cases that consistently pay back.
Dock-door RFID
Passive RFID portal at every dock door. Auto-reconcile inbound and outbound against ASN. Exception-based investigation instead of full-pallet audit.
Yard truck & trailer
BLE / GPS-hybrid on trailers, GPS-RTK on yard trucks. Dispatch sees the yard live, picks routes optimally.
Forklift safety & utilisation
UWB on forklifts with pedestrian-tag proximity alerts. Speed, dwell, and idle dashboards for fleet optimisation.
Returnable transit items
BLE on RTIs (totes, dollies, cages). End the 30% shrinkage many 3PLs accept as 'normal'.
Cold-storage compliance
Temperature + location + dwell logging for cold-chain operators. GDP-aligned reporting.
AGV / AMR fleet
Multi-vendor robot orchestration (VDA 5050) for goods-to-person and transport workflows.
Hardware & software ecosystem
Impinj · Zebra · Mojix · Ubisense · Sewio · MiR · Otto Motors · Locus Robotics · Geek+
Where we plug in
Manhattan Active Warehouse · Blue Yonder · SAP EWM · Körber WMS · Oracle Fusion Warehouse · ServiceNow
We run thin margins, so the business case had to be real. Passive RFID at every dock door plus BLE on trailers saved €2.1m a year with a seven-month payback across twelve DCs. It succeeded because TRACIO benchmarked vendors against our actual dock environment and phased the rollout site by site.Head of Network Operations · European 3PL · EMEAAnonymised at the client’s request. Reference available on request.
What we design and document to
GS1 SSCC / GLN / GTIN · EDI 856 (ASN) · C-TPAT · AEO · ISO 9001
Logistics & 3PL — where the payback shows up.
Dock-door & inbound reconciliation
Passive RFID at every dock door auto-reconciles the ASN against what was physically received; claims, shrink and manual scanning fall.
Yard & trailer management
Trailer location and dwell turn detention into a measured, billable metric — over 2 million euros a year saved in comparable rollouts.
Returnable transit item tracking
Pallets, totes and roll-cages tracked and recovered, cutting asset loss and replacement spend across the network.
Further reading: RTLS & RFID for logistics — dock, yard & inventory · Passive RFID vs RTLS · RTLS cost guide
Common use cases — what we keep seeing.
Dock-door receiving reconciliation
Problem: Receiving teams reconcile inbound shipments against ASNs manually or with handheld scans — discrepancies are found after putaway, creating re-handles.
Tech mix: Passive RFID portals at dock doors, bulk-read of pallets/cases against ASN, WMS integration for automated reconciliation.
Outcome: Reconciliation time reduced 70%+, putaway errors caught at receiving, supplier-chargeback evidence captured.
Yard management — trailer & container visibility
Problem: Yards hold hundreds of trailers and containers; finding the right one for outbound costs 20-60 min per dispatch event.
Tech mix: GNSS or LoRaWAN trackers on every trailer/container, gateway coverage, integration with TMS and gate operations.
Outcome: Yard search time reduced 90%+, dispatch reliability improved, yard layout optimised by dwell-time analytics.
Cold-chain monitoring through transport
Problem: Temperature-sensitive cargo (pharma, food, perishables) must be monitored end-to-end — excursions cause loss and regulatory exposure.
Tech mix: BLE or LoRaWAN temperature loggers in every shipment, gateway coverage at hubs, integration with TMS and compliance evidence.
Outcome: Excursion-related write-offs reduced 50-70%, regulator-audit evidence captured, customer trust improved.
Cross-dock sortation throughput
Problem: Cross-docks sort thousands of cases per hour; mis-sorted cases create downstream re-handles and missed cut-offs.
Tech mix: Passive RFID on every case, fixed-reader conveyor portals, sortation-control integration with WMS.
Outcome: Sortation accuracy 99.5%+, throughput up 15-25%, missed cut-offs reduced.
Pick-path optimisation with AMR
Problem: Warehouse pickers walk 7-10 miles per shift; pick-and-walk is the biggest labour cost in fulfilment.
Tech mix: AMR fleet (Locus, Geek+, MIR), WMS integration with VDA 5050 orchestration, BLE-AoA for picker-AMR association.
Outcome: Picks per hour up 2-3x, pick-walk reduced 60-80%, peak-season throughput sustainable without flex labour.
Returnable-asset (RTI) tracking across the supply chain
Problem: Returnable containers, pallets and dollies cycle between shipper, carrier, customer and back — typical loss rates are 5-15% per year.
Tech mix: Passive RFID on every RTI, fixed readers at chokepoints across the network, integration with logistics platform.
Outcome: RTI loss reduced to <2%, working capital in RTI freed, audit reconciliation automated.
Time-and-location proof of delivery
Problem: Last-mile delivery requires verifiable proof of place and time — disputes cost shippers in chargebacks and customer trust.
Tech mix: Driver mobile + GNSS proof, Passive RFID scan of consignment at handover, customer-app confirmation, integration with TMS.
Outcome: Delivery disputes reduced 60%+, customer claims processing faster, audit-trail for high-value consignments.
Dock-to-stock cycle time reduction
Problem: Time from dock arrival to inventory availability (D2S) is a key metric — manual processes routinely make it 12-24 hours.
Tech mix: Passive RFID at receiving + putaway, AMR for transport, real-time WMS integration.
Outcome: D2S reduced from 12h to <2h, inventory availability for orders improved, stockout risk on inbound reduced.
3PL multi-client visibility
Problem: 3PLs run multiple client inventories in shared facilities — clients demand real-time inventory and movement visibility.
Tech mix: Multi-tenant WMS + Passive RFID, client-facing dashboards, BLE-AoA for labour attribution by client.
Outcome: Client-billable activities accurately captured, client trust improved, new-client onboarding faster.
Freight-forwarding consolidation visibility
Problem: Air and ocean freight consolidation moves many small shipments through hubs — losing track at hubs is the largest claim category.
Tech mix: Passive RFID on every consolidated piece, fixed readers at consolidator hubs, integration with forwarding TMS.
Outcome: Lost-shipment claims reduced 50%+, consolidation processing time down 20-30%, hub-throughput visibility improved.
Related reading.
Frequently asked questions
What does RTLS/RFID reconcile in logistics?
Trailers, docks, pallets and parcels - in real time - so the yard, dock and warehouse stop relying on manual checks and detention surprises.
Does it cover the yard and the warehouse together?
Yes - gate RFID, yard RTLS or GPS and in-DC location give one continuous picture from arrival to put-away, closing the gaps where assets usually go missing.
How accurate, and which technology?
Presence and dock verification via RFID; trailer and asset location via RTLS or GPS; precise UWB only where needed. We size each to the task.
How does it integrate with our WMS, TMS or YMS?
Events feed your WMS, TMS and YMS via API so appointments, docks and inventory are coordinated end to end.
What is the payback?
Lower detention and demurrage, faster dock turnaround, accurate trailer and stock counts, and less time hunting - fast wins across 3PL and DC operations.