Inventory Without Stopping Operations? RFID Solution from Turck Vilant Is Transforming the Way Manufacturers Manage Inventory and Assets

July 20, 2026 / 7:27 AM

For manufacturing companies, inventory counting is an essential but often unpopular task. It usually means production slowdowns, increased workload for employees, and the frequent discovery that the data stored in enterprise systems does not fully reflect reality. Yet accurate, up-to-date data has become one of the key prerequisites for efficient manufacturing and logistics.

As digitalization and Industry 4.0 continue to reshape industrial operations, the approach to inventory management is changing as well. Instead of being a one-off annual event, inventory is increasingly becoming a continuous process that takes place during normal operations while providing companies with real-time visibility into their inventory and assets.

The key enabler is RFID-based automatic identification. Every movement of materials, returnable transport items, tools, or production assets represents valuable information that can be captured automatically—without manual recording or barcode scanning. Data is generated the moment an event occurs, rather than being entered into the system later through manual processes.

Eliminating manual steps delivers the greatest benefits. In a traditional inventory count, employees walk through the warehouse, locate individual items, scan or record them, and subsequently investigate discrepancies. With RFID technology, however, the actual inventory can be verified within minutes. The system instantly identifies present, missing, and unexpected items and compares them with data stored in ERP, WMS, or MES systems.

The result is far more than a significant reduction in inventory counting time. Companies gain greater confidence in the data they rely on every day. More accurate information enables better production planning, more efficient inventory management, faster responses to unexpected situations, and reduced dependence on manual processes. At the same time, audits become less stressful, and time-consuming searches for misplaced materials become a thing of the past.

Modern RFID solutions, such as the Turck Vilant Track & Trace platform, are not limited to warehouse inventory. The same principles can be applied to work-in-progress tracking, inbound and outbound logistics, returnable transport items, production equipment, material handling assets, and maintenance tools. Thanks to its open architecture, the solution integrates seamlessly with existing enterprise systems, allowing companies to start with a pilot project in a single process or operational area before expanding further.

Experience from industrial applications shows that the greatest value of RFID lies not only in accelerating inventory counts but in providing reliable, trustworthy data over the long term. When manufacturing and logistics teams always know where materials and assets are located, they can focus on optimizing operations instead of investigating inconsistencies.

At MSV 2026, Turck will present its RFID Track & Trace solutions designed to digitalize inventory management and material tracking without disrupting daily operations. Visitors will have the opportunity to explore practical industrial applications of RFID technology in manufacturing and intralogistics and discover how reliable real-time data can be achieved with minimal manual effort.

Website:
https://turckvilant.com/cs/reseni/sprava-materialu-a-skladova-evidence-materialu/