Using code to make asset tracking more transparent

Rhode Island’s defense-contractor sector has helped produce a number of innovations aimed at helping the U.S. military. But only one company in the sector can say that it is helping to keep the armed services, quite literally, on track.
A2B Tracking Solutions, a leading provider of bar code-based tracking technology, says it has been developing its products for more than 40 years. But arguably its biggest break came roughly 12 months ago, when the company was given a massive project by the military.
In October 2008, the Portsmouth-based company was awarded a five-year, $70 million contract under the U.S. Department of Defense’s Universal Identification (UID) property-labeling initiative. Under the contract, A2B will help the Air Force comply with the program, which essentially requires branches of the U.S. military to label everything.
In May, the company was awarded a similar, $2.5 million contract by the U.S. Marine Corps to perform similar work.
So how did A2B anticipate the need for military use of its product?
According to the company’s Innovation Awards application, a company principal was selected to participate in a Department of Defense team charged with creating a methodology for lifecycle tracking of all department-owned assets. Those items included so-called “legacy” assets owned by the department, items in possession of the department’s 43,000 contractors and those being manufactured for the department. In all, the company said, there are more than 1 billion items.
A2B immediately saw the opportunity to apply its data-management software, UID Company, to be used by the military.
The company sees the undertaking as a project that will revolutionize the military, just as the bar code revolutionized the retail industry.
“Up until now, assets and property have been behind walls or in containers,” the company wrote in its Innovation Awards application. “[Unique identification] makes those walls and containers transparent. The result of this transparency is much better equipment deployment, with a clean audit trail as a bonus.”
Additionally, A2B said that the project will help cut down on waste, eliminating a tendency of military branches to spend their budgets on properties that are already owned.
The contract is also helping the local economy. A2B has added five new positions since the beginning of 2009. It expects to add 20 more jobs within the next year.
“As the market develops, and A2B and Rhode Island become the center for IUID activities worldwide, we anticipate adding dozens of additional jobs within the next three to five years,” A2B wrote in its application. &#8226