Keeping tabs

TRACkey

By Staff -- Logistics Management, 9/1/1998

The number of tracking and tracing products available today means shippers now have a wide variety of options to help them collect, manage, and transmit tracking data more effectively.

Ten years ago, tracking and tracing products were a rarity, but it's a very different story today. The development of operational strategies like Just-In-Time (JIT) manufacturing, Efficient Consumer Response (ECR), and Vendor-Managed Inventory (VMI) means that shippers, carriers, and their mutual customers need to know where inventory is at all times. And they need to get that information quickly and

accurately. Fortunately, their needs are being met by a wide variety of tracking and tracing products that are on the market today. Here is just a sampling of some of the newest of these products.

Supra Products has introduced the "TRACcess" access-management system, which eliminates the use of conventional keys to lock and unlock doors. TRACcess is made up of three components: the TRACkey, access devices such as door locks and vaults, and the PC-based TRACcess information-management software.

At the core of the system is the battery-powered TRACkey, an electronic key that powers most of the access devices and records each access by location, date, and time. Each device is activated when a user enters a unique PIN number into the electronic TRACkey, then inserts the key into the lock. A redundant audit trail is generated in both the lock and the TRACkey.

TRACcess products can be installed in almost any location since they require no external computer networks or power connection.