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How much does RFID counting save you?

Pick your business and how you count today, and see the saving, the hardware you need and when you get your money back.

1Your business
Sites
Items per site
2Your counts today
Counts a year
Count workers per site
Manual count pace (items per worker an hour)
Team dedicated to counting?
3Costs
Worker-hour cost (SAR)
Overtime hour pay
Warehouse power load (kW)
Power tariff (SAR/kWh)
Counting tools a year per site (SAR)
RFID counting

The default hour cost is our estimate for Saudi Arabia, including salary, residency and insurance; change it to match your business. We save nothing you enter here.

Yearly saving
▲ SAR 173,000
Wages, overtime, power and tools
Net, first year
▲ SAR 139,339
After subscription, setup and hardware depreciation
Payback
5 months
Setup and hardware, from the saving after subscription
Hardware from
SAR 46,200
Approx. · 1 site

Where the saving comes from

Count hours as overtime: 167 worker-hours × 1.5, about 7 days a count▲ SAR 150,000
Power for the extra hours▲ SAR 20,000
Counting tools and supplies▲ SAR 3,000

RFID hardware per site

Approximate · from
For a site with 25,000 items
1 × RFID label printerUseful life 5 years · depreciation SAR 3,500 a yearSAR 16,000 – 19,000
2 × Handheld reader (reads barcodes too)Useful life 5 years · depreciation SAR 4,200 a yearSAR 16,000 – 26,000
1 × Fixed readerUseful life 7 years · depreciation SAR 964 a yearSAR 6,000 – 7,500
4 × AntennaUseful life 10 years · depreciation SAR 380 a yearSAR 3,200 – 4,400
25,000 × UHF tagsUseful life 10 years · depreciation SAR 1,000 a yearSAR 5,000 – 15,000
One siteSAR 46,200 – 71,900
Hardware depreciation (all sites)SAR 10,044 a year · SAR 837 a month

Prices are indicative, based on our previous projects, and may vary with each customer's needs. Depreciation is straight-line, reaching 100% at the end of each device's useful life.

Short feasibility study

Yearly saving▲ SAR 173,000
Helix subscription a year (1 site)▼ SAR 17,988
Setup and training (once)▼ SAR 5,629
Hardware depreciation a year (SAR 59,050 over its life)▼ SAR 10,044
Net, first year▲ SAR 139,339
Net each year after▲ SAR 144,968
Payback5 months

Basic plan billed annually, extra sites at the Plans page price, setup SAR 5,629 per site.

Try Helix for 48 hoursWork it out with an engineer on site
How we work out the figures
  • Manual count hours = items ÷ count pace (150 items per worker an hour by default). Duration = those hours ÷ workers ÷ 8 hours a day.
  • If the team is not dedicated, it counts on top of its normal work so the rest of the work cycle keeps running, and every count hour is paid as overtime = count hours × counts a year × hour cost × 1.5 (article 107, editable) × sites.
  • If the team is dedicated: wages = (workers − 1) × 208 h × 12 months × hour cost × sites, because one employee stays per site to run RFID and manage the warehouse; overtime = workers × overtime hours × counts a year × hour cost × 1.5 × sites.
  • Power = hours outside the shift (count hours ÷ workers, or the dedicated team's overtime hours) × warehouse load × tariff × counts a year × sites.
  • Hardware per site by its items: up to 50k = 1 printer, 2 handhelds, 1 fixed reader, 4 antennas; up to 100k = 1, 3, 2, 8; up to 250k = 2, 4, 3, 12; plus one tag per item.
  • Subscription = Basic plan billed annually + each extra site at the Plans page price. Setup is per site.
  • Useful life: printer 5 years, handheld 5, fixed reader 7, antenna 10, tags 10. Yearly depreciation = middle price ÷ life, reaching 100% at the end of it.
  • Net each year = saving − subscription − hardware depreciation; the first year also takes off setup. Payback = (setup + hardware middle) ÷ the monthly (saving − subscription).

More returns the figure above leaves out

Faster decisions
Confirmed stock at any moment instead of waiting for the next count, so you buy, transfer and cut on today's figures.
Staff time back
Workers who spent days counting go back to receiving, issuing and serving customers.
Sales you don't lose
When the system knows your real stock, fewer items run out and fewer orders are refused as "not in stock".
Counts without closing the store
RFID counting happens during work, so receiving and issuing never stop and no extra shifts are needed.
Faster receiving and issuing
A whole carton or pallet is read at once instead of scanning item by item.
Less waste
First-expiry-first-out and alerts before expiry, where your business needs them.
Less loss
Gates alert at once when an item leaves without an issue voucher.
Less cash tied up in stock
Recommendations cut over-buying and expose slow stock before it piles up.

The figure is an estimate, set precisely after a site visit · Stock accuracy from GS1 UK · Handheld speed from University of Arkansas RFID Research Center