Picture this: you’re shipping out a new product. You care about consistency, efficiency and sustainability, so you’re using returnable transport packaging (RTP) like stillages, crates or metal cages. 

Your product arrives on time and in great condition. Your “reusable” packaging? That’s another story. In fact, it seems to have disappeared into the ether. 

Sound familiar? Welcome to the black hole of open-loop logistics, where RTP often vanishes without a trace, stressing budgets, complicating inventory tracking and leaving operations teams frustrated. 

The Problem with “Returnable” Packaging 

In theory, RTP is the sustainable, cost-effective backbone of the modern supply chain. It reduces waste, standardizes handling and cuts long-term packaging costs. It’s rugged, reusable and often essential for safely transporting high-value goods. 

In practice things can be a little more complicated, especially when it comes to getting your RTP back from wherever it was shipped. Truth is, they do a great job of protecting products, but once they’re sitting empty in some third-party depot or busy shop floor, there’s no telling if you’ll ever see them again. 

That’s because most traditional tracking methods rely on fixed infrastructure like RFID readers. In an open-loop scenario, you simply don’t control what happens at the destination. If there’s no scanner, there’s no data. That means no visibility. No accountability. No way to know what you’ve lost, or even when you lost it. 

A Smarter, Simpler Way 

Here’s the good news: new asset tracking solutions don’t need heavy infrastructure or expensive cutting-edge tech to work. In fact, we’re helping many logistics, manufacturing and operations teams reclaim their visibility using reliable GPS hubs and low-cost Bluetooth Low Energy (BTLE) tags. 

Each RTP gets tagged. Then, wherever a GPS-enabled hub is present—on a truck, in a worker’s mobile device or built into a rugged, battery-powered tracker—those tags get detected. No fixed installations. No infrastructure upgrades. Just real-time data that tells you exactly where to find your packaging. 

These tags broadcast a Bluetooth signal that gets picked up by nearby trackers, which then relay location and movement data back to a cloud platform. This approach eliminates the need for site-based infrastructure, making it ideal for open-loop scenarios where control at the destination simply doesn’t exist. 

Designed for the Real World 

Turns out, you don’t need a total overhaul of your entire tech stack to figure out what’s happening to your RTP; you just need solid tools built for the real-world realities of today’s transportation and logistics industry. 

In this world, practicality still rules. That means features like long battery life, quick setup and industrial strength durability. 

That’s why companies like Airbus, Veolia and DPD have all used these solutions to track their RTP. Airbus monitors specialized aerospace tooling across sites worldwide. Veolia tracks waste containers to optimize rotation and reduce unnecessary purchases. DPD fresh guarantees cold-chain compliance by keeping tabs on temperature-sensitive food shipments.  

The applications may be different, but the results are the same; tangible savings and smarter operations. 

Ready to Stop the Vanishing Act? 

If you’re sending out returnable packaging and crossing your fingers it comes back, there’s a better way. Asset tracking that works in open-loop environments isn’t beyond your reach. It’s available, scalable and ready to make your supply chain smarter.