For years, manufacturers have prioritized moving faster. But today, the companies pulling ahead aren’t just accelerating. They’re seeing more clearly.
Real-time visibility into the location and movement of products, people, and equipment provides a level of operational insight that can transform everything from production efficiency to employee safety.
While location tracking isn’t new, recent advances in connectivity and smart sensor technology have dramatically improved the precision of indoor positioning. Modern Real-Time Locating System (RTLS) technology can pinpoint asset locations with far greater accuracy, and, more importantly, seamlessly integrate that data into existing systems and workflows.
But like any technology, adopting RTLS requires thoughtful evaluation. Before you invest, it’s essential to understand how the technology works, where it delivers the greatest value, and what to look for in a vendor.
How RTLS Works
Traditionally, RTLS operates through a network of mobile tags and fixed sensors that communicate using various radio frequencies. Mobile tags can be worn by employees moving throughout a facility or attached to assets in transit. These tags transmit signals that are detected by other tags or by strategically placed fixed sensors. Once the system captures these signals, a location algorithm processes the data to determine the precise position of each tagged person or item. The result is accurate, real-time visibility into the movement and location of assets across your facility.
This level of precise, facility‑wide tracking sets RTLS apart from more traditional technologies like radio-frequency identification (RFID). RFID has long been used for identifying and verifying people or assets as they pass near a reader, but that’s where its visibility ends. Because RFID can only detect an item at the moment it crosses a fixed scanning point, manufacturers are left with major blind spots.
In contrast, RTLS continuously tracks the exact location and movement of assets throughout a facility. Instead of simply confirming that something was at a specific checkpoint, RTLS shows where it is at any moment. This level of real-time visibility closes critical gaps and enables more accurate, proactive decision‑making.
How to Use RTLS
In a manufacturing environment, RTLS can support several high‑value applications that improve efficiency, accuracy, and safety across the facility. Here are a few examples:
- Material Tracking: RTLS enhances the accuracy of processes typically reliant on barcode scanning or manual data entry by automatically detecting the movement of tagged parts and materials.
- Loss Prevention: Tracking expensive assets helps manufacturers reduce the time spent locating critical items and prevents them from being misplaced.
- Workplace Safety: An RTLS can help ensure that anyone working near a specific line or piece of equipment is properly trained and authorized to operate it.
- Quality Control: Tools can be programmed to operate only within designated areas or to follow a specific, pre‑approved sequence depending on where they are being used.
The true power of RTLS lies not just in these individual applications, but in how the technology strengthens your entire operational ecosystem. By integrating RTLS data with systems like inventory management (IMS), warehouse management (WMS), manufacturing execution (MES), or enterprise resource planning (ERP), manufacturers can build a fully connected environment that unlocks higher levels of automation, insight, and control.
Using RTLS for Automated Vehicle Tracking
RTLS has traditionally been used for tracking items, but there’s a growing opportunity to use the same technology to track automated vehicles. If a manufacturer already has RTLS in place, they can simply add tags to their automated vehicles. That location data then feeds into the RTLS system, and through integration, it can be passed along to the fleet manager, giving teams real-time visibility into exactly where every vehicle is across the plant.
The catch? This approach is only possible if the RTLS sensor infrastructure is already in place or is added as part of the project. The high cost of this fixed infrastructure may make the project cost-prohibitive.
To avoid that cost (and the complexity that comes with it), many manufacturers are turning to SLAM and VSLAM technology instead. These systems put the intelligence on the vehicles themselves, allowing them to map and localize their own position while still connecting back into the RTLS software.
In short: rather than tagging every vehicle, the vehicles can now “tag” themselves, making the whole system more scalable and cost‑effective.
How to Determine if RTLS is the Right Fit
When adopting any new technology, it’s important to perform an in-depth evaluation to determine if the solution is the right fit before implementing it. To do this, you should follow these steps:
- Evaluate whether other foundational systems (MES, ERP, WMS) are in place. While RTLS can stand on its own in some use cases, most successful implementations require that one or more of these systems be in place.
- Examine all potential use cases for location tracking and make sure RTLS is the right solution to solve those use cases.
- Consider infrastructure requirements and budget.
- Determine the power requirements for tags and sensors.
- Develop a long-term operation and maintenance plan.
How to Find the Right Vendor
Flexware Innovation has performed an in-depth evaluation of 24 vendors with RTLS solutions. During this evaluation, we determined whether the technology could track a variety of assets including people, small components, tools, and larger items like vehicles. From there, we narrowed down the vendors into a subset of vendors who are best positioned to serve manufacturers. Service capabilities, product features, and engineering rates were also taken into account.
Each solution we evaluated offered various out-of-the-box functionality, some including built-in contact tracing and smart space/geofencing functionality. But at the end of the evaluation period, our engineers determined that Ubisense was the market leader in RTLS technology.
RTLS: A Strategic Tool for the Factory of the Future
As manufacturers continue their digital transformation journeys, RTLS is moving from a niche capability to a strategic enabler. For organizations willing to think beyond basic tracking and focus on integration, context, and automation, real-time location intelligence offers a powerful way to build safer, more efficient, and more resilient operations.
Learn how you can achieve this capability at your facility. Contact us today or request a demo of our on-campus RTLS.
