Monitor products with active RFID pallet

Jeffrey Owen, founder and CEO of Lightning Technologies, knows plastic pallets, having been in the business since 2003. So, when he saw an opportunity in 2015 to create a new pallet that combines the best properties of wood and plastic, he did.

The resulting Lightning pallet is constructed of engineered plywood sourced from sustainable plantations, then coated with a proprietary polyurea spray called ExoBond. The resulting pallet is extremely durable, lightweight, fire-retardant, sustainable, hygienic, easily sanitized and repairable, skid-free, and offered in standard and custom sizes. Further, while a typical wood pallet’s average lifespan is three months, the Lightning pallet is estimated to last more than 10 years.

What sets the pallet apart from the other 2 billion pallets in the United States and another 6 billion around the world is its active radio-frequency identification device (RFID).

“This is the only pallet in the market with an active RFID that continuously beams information to a Cloud-based dashboard to report a variety of customer-specified critical factors,” Owen explains. “Users determine the threshold for temperature, humidity, time in transit, impacts, shelf life and location; the dashboard displays the readings in real-time, highlighting any pallet that deviates from their settings.”

In contrast, pallets with passive RFID can only share location information when they encounter a reader—typically at inbound receiving or outbound shipping—meaning the data is historic rather than current.

“Food, beverage, perishables, pharmaceuticals—manufacturers and retailers increasingly need to monitor their products as they pass through the supply chain,” Owen says. “Having condition information facilitates track and trace, allows more targeted recalls and protects brands. It also helps retailers prioritize stocking and replenishment with items whose shelf life is the shortest.”

Makers and sellers of high-value and sensitive products—such as electronics—also benefit from the information the active RFID tags collect and share. “They can be notified immediately if there’s a significant impact on the load, or quickly locate a shipment if it deviates from its designated path in the case of theft, for example,” adds Owen.