Case Study: OEM

The Challenge

A leading OEM came to Wave Reaction with a familiar problem and an ambitious goal. Empty returnable containers were accumulating on factory floors, consuming valuable production space. The company had no centralized container management operation, no visibility into fleet size or location, and no systematic method for allocating containers to suppliers. Despite these challenges, they saw a clear opportunity: expand their returnable packaging program, convert more parts from expendable to returnable packaging, and capture the associated cost and sustainability benefits. What they needed was a system, a dedicated facility, and a partner who could help them build all of it from scratch.

The Solution

Wave Reaction partnered with the OEM to design and launch a purpose-built Container Management Center (CMC), deploying Wave WMS to run warehouse operations and Wave RCM to manage the broader returnable container fleet. The tight integration between WMS and RCM enables a seamless flow from warehouse-level container processing to network-wide fleet allocation and tracking. Beyond technology, Wave served as a strategic partner throughout the engagement, advising on CMC process design and supplementing the OEM's packaging engineering function to accelerate program buildout.

A defining element of the engagement was hardware innovation. The OEM challenged Wave to minimize capital investment without sacrificing operational capability. Through a first-principles assessment of the facility and workflows, Wave determined that the CMC could achieve full container visibility with a single RFID portal at the dock door, rather than the multi-portal RFID tunnel configurations typical of operations at this scale. The remainder of the network leverages a combination of low-cost hardware and third-party system data to maintain location-level visibility across 50+ suppliers. The result: an approximately 80% reduction in RFID hardware investment relative to a conventional deployment.

Wave also automated the entire daily container allocation process. Using real-time inventory data, demand signals, and a suite of shipment generation algorithms, the platform allocates containers to suppliers each day without manual intervention, replacing what had previously been a labor-intensive guessing game.

The Impact

The program today spans two factories (with additional US facilities in the onboarding pipeline), 50+ suppliers, 50+ returnable container SKUs, and a fleet of more than 200,000 totes and bulk bins.

• 99%+ inventory accuracy at the CMC
• Elimination of over 1 million manual hand scans per year in the warehouse
• Approximately 80% reduction in RFID hardware costs versus conventional approaches
• 200,000+ returnable assets under management
• Fully automated daily container allocation across the supplier network
• Improved supplier compliance and fleet utilization
• Ongoing conversion of high-volume parts from expendable to returnable packaging