RFID-Based Inventory Taking

Opportunity Snapshot

  • Country: Bulgaria Bulgaria
  • Industry: Technologies
  • Stage: Expansion/Growth
  • Investment size: $100,000 / min. $70,000

Investment Opportunity

INVENT is a software solution for inventory taking, based on UHF RFID technology. The solution is packed with all needed software and hardware components and can be used out of the box. INVENT improves significantly the process of asset inventorying and helps realize savings in terms of manpower, while reducing the processing errors.

By INVENT we reinvent the process of inventory taking. It was developed, following our teams’ belief that the main role of the new technologies is to make our life easier.

Based on our experience in the area of RFID and many discussions with people, involved in inventory taking (accountants, IT Managers, etc.) we came up with the idea of our product, aimed to solve this common problem. We also found that many people don’t really take the inventory and don’t really know where their assets are. The reason is simple – it is too difficult to do it and it takes too much of their precious time. The result – the business is losing money and is exposed to risk.

INVENT changes this in an easy way – it makes inventory taking very fast and easy. It also helps to integrate the data with the existing accounting (or any other) system by using a simple wizard. Because it’s so easy, now the employees can check the assets more often than ever before, thus improving the control and traceability.

The most important rule we were following in the development of INVENT was to keep it simple and user friendly. No useless complications and redundant functionalities; no complicated servers and infrastructure – just one single solution.

Inventory taking is not a burden any more – it is now fun!

What is INVENT

INVENT is a new product, employing the latest RFID technology to improve the inventory taking process. It is applicable for office assets, IT assets, tools, archive folders, goods.

What makes INVENT unique is the innovative approach to inventory taking process. INVENT is powerful enough to dramatically improve the process, but it is also very simple to install and use. This is the only product on the Bulgarian market that uses RFID technology. There is a number of innovative functions and processes in the software. What makes it different form the competitors on the world market are it’s simplicity, user friendly interface and very competitive pricing.

INVENT is based on RFID technology. RFID labels can be scanned very fast (50-100 per second), they can be hidden (hence - they are not exposed to external interventions), all the information is easily manageable on the screen of a mobile device, and the labels are strong, with unlimited life. As a result the inventory taking is up to 20 times faster, much more reliable and automated.

INVENT contains desktop application, mobile application and is packed with mobile terminal and RFID labels.
The desktop application is Windows-based software, compatible with Windows XP and Windows 7.
The mobile application is compatible with Windows CE and Windows Mobile and runs on CS101 mobile device.
The mobile terminal CS101, produced by Convergence Systems Ltd. has been chosen because of its outstanding performance and reliability at very good price.

Market potential

Inventory taking is a very common process, performed by all (or almost all of the companies). In the same time most of the companies are facing serious difficulties performing the physical inventory checks. This applies especially to the companies with more than 50 employees (representing huge number of entities) with usually more than 800-1000 assets.

According to EUROSTAT the number of middle and large companies in the EU is approximately 260 000. In Bulgaria the number is about 6000. Based on discussions with potential clients and companies, involved in the barcode solutions most of the companies in Bulgaria (more than 95%) do not use any type of automated inventory solution. The process is performed manually – counting the assets one by one; or comparing the physical presence to a paper list.

In small percentage of the companies barcode is used for automation of the process, but it still has many disadvantages – line of sight is needed between the scanner and the barcode label, reading distance is very small, the labels are not strong and resistant.

Despite the inventory taking of office and IT assets, there are many other areas, where INVENT can be used: archive inventory and management, inventory of goods, inventory of books, etc.

Product readiness

INVENT has been introduced to the market at the end of 2009.The current version is fully functional as a stand-alone solution. It is offered in basically two models:
- To be bought as a licensed package – in this case the client buys all the necessary software licenses and hardware devices and uses the product himself. The model is suitable for large companies with big number of assets.
- As a service – the client does not buy licenses and hardware, but only the consumables. Our team performs all the data processing, preparation and inventory. A flat fee is applied for every asset. Suitable with smaller companies with up to 1000 assets.

The clients of INVENT as of May, 2011 are:

- Technical University of Sofia – Library
The RFID project for the library includes: INVENT for inventory taking of books, RFID portal at the exit for security purposes, integration with the library software for automated processing of books.
- Sofia District Court
Sofia District Court is the biggest in Bulgaria with 138 judges, located in 3 buildings.
The number of assets is above 7000.
- Festo
Festo is a leading world-wide supplier of automation technology with more than 14000 employees globally. It has a production facility in Bulgaria.
INVENT is used currently for asset tracking, but the tests are ongoing for implementation of RFID technology also for machines and instruments.
- Bultraco
The company is the official representative of Honda in Bulgaria.
To improve their control and traceability of the assets and equipment, Bultraco uses INVENT in all of their offices, showrooms and services.
- Raiffeisenbank (Bulgaria) EAD
The fourth largest bank in Bulgaria with more than 170 branches.
INVENT has been chosen because of its effectiveness, easy integration with ERP systems and good ROI parameters.

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