What is reusable asset tracking in supply chains?

Reusable asset tracking is the continuous monitoring of returnable transport assets such as pallets, totes, roll cages, and containers throughout the supply chain. Using Wiliot IoT Pixels and the Wiliot Physical AI platform, businesses gain real-time visibility into asset location, movement, and status without relying on manual counts or periodic scans.

How does Wiliot’s reusable asset tracking solution work?

Wiliot uses battery-free IoT Pixels attached to reusable assets along with wireless infrastructure and cloud analytics to automatically track asset movement and condition. These assets continuously transmit data to the Wiliot Physical AI platform without scanning or battery maintenance, creating a live system of record across the supply chain.

What problems does reusable asset tracking solve?

Reusable asset tracking solves visibility challenges that lead to asset loss, shrinkage, over-purchasing, operational inefficiencies, and delays. By providing real-time tracking, organizations can accurately monitor asset circulation, identify missing assets, and optimize fleet management.

What are the benefits of automated reusable asset tracking compared to manual methods?

Automated reusable asset tracking reduces asset shrink and loss, optimizes fleet size and utilization, eliminates manual counting and reconciliation, improves asset availability, and enables faster data-driven operational decisions. It provides continuous visibility that traditional spreadsheets and scan-based systems cannot match.

Which industries benefit most from reusable asset tracking?

Industries that benefit most from reusable asset tracking include retail and grocery supply chains, logistics and third-party logistics providers, postal and parcel networks, manufacturing, and distribution operations where returnable transport items are critical to daily operations.

What ROI can companies expect from reusable asset tracking?

Organizations typically achieve significant ROI through reduced asset shrinkage, lower replacement costs, optimized asset utilization, fewer operational delays, and improved efficiency. Large-scale deployments often generate multi-million-dollar savings by improving asset management and reducing unnecessary capital expenditures.

Reusable Asset Tracking

Continuous visibility into every RTI — eliminating shrink, over-buying, and operational disruption

Download Solution Brief

The Challenge

Distribution operations lose 10–15% of reusable transport items (RTIs) — roll carts, totes, racks, pallets, and containers — every year. Shrink, misplacement, and network imbalance leave distribution centers short on the assets they need to run daily operations.

The typical response: over-build the fleet by 30–40% as a buffer, and place emergency purchases when shortages still occur. Without visibility into where assets are and how they move through the network, shrink goes undetected, over-purchasing becomes the default, and delivery reliability suffers.

Download Solution Brief

The Wiliot Solution

Wiliot's Reusable Asset Tracking solution delivers continuous, scan-free visibility into every RTI — from the DC to in-transit, to stores, to returns — using battery-free IoT Pixels and low-cost fixed infrastructure. Asset location is reported automatically without scanning or manual tracking. Operations gain precise insight into utilization, identify stuck or missing assets early, rebalance networks proactively, and right-size fleets based on real data — not worst-case assumptions.

The solution automatically:

Tracks RTI location continuously across DCs, trailers, stores, and cross-docks
Identifies stuck, missing, or slow-moving assets before shortages occur
Provides real-time utilization data to right-size fleet requirements
Triggers automated replenishment when asset counts fall below defined thresholds
Supports accurate client billing and asset accountability in shared networks

Key Outcomes

30–40%

Reduction in fleet
size needed

50%

Shrink reduction at
reference operator

99%

Asset Visibility

5–10×

Lower cost vs. RFID
alternatives

How it Works

Battery-free IoT Pixels are applied to RTIs once — during manufacturing, commissioning, or as a retrofit. Each asset then broadcasts its presence continuously as it moves through the network.

Wiliot's fixed infrastructure at DCs, stores, trailers, and cross-dock locations captures these signals without requiring any scanning or manual check-in. The Physical AI platform delivers a real-time view of every asset in the network — synchronized with your existing systems via cloud-to-cloud integration.

Logistics & Postal Networks

Challenge: Networks Managing hundreds of thousands of roll cages across national networks with no reliable visibility post-departure

Outcome: 50% shrink reduction; $10M+ in annual savings from fleet right-sizing and reduced emergency purchases

Retail
Distribution

Challenge: Balancing roll cart and tote inventory across hundreds of stores in a hub-and-spoke network

Outcome: Significant fleet size reduction; improved delivery reliability from better asset availability

Grocery & Food
Retail

Challenge: Tracking totes, racks, and pallets in closed-loop supply networks with frequent handoffs

Outcome: 99%+ asset visibility; elimination of emergency purchases and delivery delays

Automotive Parts Distribution

Challenge: Managing high-value returnable racks and containers across a multi-tier supplier network

Outcome: Improved asset utilization; automated client billing based on verified asset movement data

Third-Party Logistics (3PL)

Challenge: Tracking client-owned assets across shared networks with accuracy and accountability

Outcome: Accurate per-client billing; improved client satisfaction from transparent, documented asset tracking

Implementation

Wiliot's Reusable Asset Tracking solution deploys quickly and scales flexibly — no network re-architecture required.

Download Solution Brief

Timeline

System live in weeks for an initial DC-to-store network.

Tagging

IoT Pixels applied during asset manufacturing or commissioning, or retrofit tagging of existing assets at the DC.

Infrastructure

Standard low-voltage installation using out-of-the-box networking infrastructure. Deployable at DCs, stores, trailers, and cross-dock locations.

Scalability

Add locations incrementally without re-engineering the system. Flexible expansion across hub-and-spoke or complex multi-node networks.

Integration

Seamless cloud-to-cloud (C2C) data transfer into your existing ERP, WMS, or inventory platform. SDK and open APIs available for custom workflows.

Frequently Asked Questions

Reusable Asset Tracking

Eliminate shrink and optimize fleet utilization without manual counting

Download the Solution Brief

Distribution operations lose 10-15% of delivery assets annually to shrink, misplacement, and imbalance across the network. When DCs run short on roll carts or totes, operations either halt or slow down deliveries, revert to less efficient methods like pallets, or emergency purchase more assets “just in case”.

Wiliot provides automated continuous visibility into reusable transport items (RTI) by location (DC, in-transit, store, cross-dock) using battery-free IoT Pixels and lowest cost minimal fixed infrastructure.

$10M+ annual savings from shrink reduction and fleet optimization

30-40% reduction in fleet size needed avoid over-purchasing)

95-99% asset visibility within 15 minutes

5-10x lower infrastructure cost vs. RFID alternatives

Weeks to deployment for initial DC-to-store network

Examples of Industry Applications

Logistics

Challenge: Managing hundreds of thousands of roll cages across national networks

Outcome: 50% shrink reduction, $10M+ annual savings

Retail Distribution

Challenge: Balancing roll cart inventory across hundreds of stores

Outcome: Reduction in fleet size, improved delivery reliability

Grocery & Food Service

Challenge: Tracking totes, racks, and pallets in closed-loop networks

Outcome: 99%+ asset visibility, eliminated emergency purchases

Automotive Parts Distribution

Challenge: Managing returnable racks and containers

Outcome: Improvement in asset utilization, automated client billing

Third-Party Logistics (3PL)

Challenge: Tracking client-owned assets across shared networks

Outcome: Accurate billing, improved client satisfaction

Implementation

Timeline

System live in weeks

Tagging

Preferred: Tag during manufacturing/commissioning
Alternative: Retrofit existing assets at DC

Infrastructure

Standard low-voltage installation
Out-of-the-box networking infrastructure

Scalability

Flexible without re-engineering

Integration

Integration: Seamless integration via cloud-to-cloud (C2C) data transfer, plus SDK and APIs for easy adoption.

Reusable Asset Tracking

The Challenge

The Wiliot Solution

Key Outcomes