Tracking technology

From a QR sticker to RFID gates. We fit the tracking to your flow.

Rotion is hardware-agnostic. Depending on budget, the accuracy you need and the moments your assets are already handled, we set you up with printed QR codes and phones, RFID portals at the dock, BLE beacons across the site, GPS trackers with geofencing, or a mix. We don't sell tags, so the advice follows your operation, not a hardware margin.

Map your flows with us Compare the technologies

Lightweight: nothing to installHeavy duty: infrastructure on site

QR sticker + phone €0.05 to 0.15 per asset None Handovers, deposits, returns
Barcode + handheld Existing labels per asset Scanners you own Warehouses with scanner fleets
Passive RFID portal €0.10 to 0.50 per asset Readers at chosen doors High-volume docks
BLE + gateways €5 to 15 per asset One gateway per zone Yards and sites
Parent-child BLE + GPS €5 to 15 child, €60 to 150 parent per asset None, parents relay Location across the network

Indicative cost bands per asset, 2026. One record behind every option.

Why hardware-agnostic

We don't sell tags. We pick what works for you, then set it up.

Advice that follows your flow

Tag choice, label tests and hardware sourcing come from live deployments and your own loss data. There is no hardware margin to protect, so the cheapest setup that does the job wins.

One fleet, several technologies

QR codes on the crates that pass through partner hands, RFID at your busiest dock, BLE on the roller cages that vanish between scans. Mixed setups are normal.

One record, whatever reads it

A phone scan, a portal read and a BLE position all become the same custody event, matched to the partner and the order. Change the technology on a flow later and your reports, integrations and history stay as they are.

Technology comparison

QR, RFID, BLE and GPS, side by side

Each one earns its keep in a different part of the operation. Fleets end up mixed, so we map your flows against this table before anything gets bought.

Carrier	Cost per asset	How it is read	Infrastructure	Battery	Where it earns its keep
QR code	€0.05 to €0.15	Phone camera or handheld	None	None	Partner handovers, deposit flows, low-value assets
Passive RFID	€0.10 to €0.50	Dock-door portal, handheld or tunnel, in bulk	Readers at the doors you choose	None	High-volume dock flows on your own sites
Active RFID	€10 to €25	Fixed gateways	Gateway network	2 to 5 years	High-value assets on known sites
BLE tag	€5 to €15	Gateways or phones	About one gateway per zone	2 to 5 years	Indoor sites and yards
BLE child tag	€5 to €15	Relayed by nearby parent trackers	None, parents act as the gateway	About 5 years	Bulk RTIs that need a location between scans
Parent tracker	€60 to €150 plus data	LTE with a GPS position	None, mounted on assets	5 to 8 years	About one in ten assets, as mobile gateways

Indicative cost bands, 2026. Existing barcodes and EPC-encoded RFID tags map in as identifiers too. Full technical reference

Which technology fits which flow

The flow decides the technology, not the asset type

Start from the moments custody changes hands. Who is there, and how many assets pass at once?

QR labels on stacked plastic pallets, read with a tablet and a scanner

QR and the scan app

Partner and customer handovers

Someone already holds the asset. A phone scan costs nothing extra, and a customer can confirm a return in the browser without installing anything.

Passive RFID portals

High-volume dock doors

Whole pallets of crates read as they pass the door. Nobody scans, and the reads are checked against the order.

A BLE gateway on a steel beam above tagged crates and roll cages

BLE with gateways

Yards and sites

Continuous presence and dwell time per zone on your own sites, without a scan.

A parent tracker on a roll cage and a child tag on the crate inside

Parent-child BLE and GPS

Location across the network

One asset in ten carries an LTE and GPS parent. The rest carry low-cost BLE children that report through the nearest parent.

Solution examples

Three setups, three budgets

A phone scanning the QR labels on a stack of crates

Crate handovers

A stack of crates counted in one pass of the phone camera

Drivers and store staff hand over mixed stacks. The scan app reads every QR code in the stack through the phone camera, matches the count to the order, and keeps a photo as proof of handover.

QRPhone cameraBatch scan

A forklift carrying tagged crates through an RFID portal at a dock door

High-volume dock

Thousands of crates a day, read at the dock door

Encapsulated passive RFID tags survive washing. Portals at the busiest doors read whole pallets as they pass, and a validation scan covers the rest. Every loss traces to whoever held the crates last.

Passive RFIDDock portalsERP integration

Warehouse team walking past labelled roll cages

Roller cages in retail

Every roller cage located, without a GPS tracker on each one

About 10% of cages carry an LTE parent tracker with GPS; the rest carry BLE child tags. Store staff confirm handovers in the scan app. The result is a live count per store and partner, and overdue cages chased automatically.

BLE child tagsLTE and GPS parentsScan app

Illustrative setups based on live deployments. In production today: Belgium's first large-scale reusable packaging pilot runs on GS1 QR codes, Zebra handhelds and the Rotion app, with 100.000 packages across 6 retailers. Read the REPASYS case

Around the scan

Counting, paperwork, zones and customer requests, in the same record

Tracking is where the data starts. These four turn the moments around a handover into fewer manual steps.

Image needed: phone screen over a stack of unlabeled crates, a count shown on screen

AI camera counting

Count assets that carry no label

Take a photo of a stack, a pallet or a cage. Rotion's AI counts the assets in it, compares the count to the order, and turns a mismatch into an exception. No code on the asset needed.

Image needed: driver and receiver at a truck, one signing on a phone

e-CMR

The consignment note goes digital

The driver and the receiver sign the e-CMR on the phone at the handover. The empties and full assets on it update custody in the same step, so the paperwork and the asset record never disagree.

Image needed: product screenshot of a map with zones drawn around sites

Geofencing

Zones that act on their own

Draw zones around depots, customers and partner sites. When a tracked asset enters or leaves a zone, or stays too long, Rotion records it and starts the follow-up: a status change, a reminder or a pickup task.

Image needed: a bar or shop owner scanning the QR code on an empty keg or crate with a phone

Customer QR flows

Customers reorder or ask for a pickup with one scan

A customer scans the QR code on an empty keg, crate or container with the phone camera. In the browser, without an app, they ask for a pickup or reorder. Rotion creates the pickup task or passes the order on to your systems.

How we choose

Three questions settle most decisions

1
Budget per asset
A crate worth a few euros carries a printed code. A roller cage or an IBC can justify a tag.
2
Accuracy the flow needs
A deposit settlement needs a confirmed handover. Fleet sizing can live with a location that is minutes old.
3
Scanning moments you already have
Where someone handles the asset, a phone scan is free. Where nobody does, a portal or a gateway does the reading.

Half a day

Discover

Map the flow, find the loss points, pick the technology, build the business case.

8 to 12 weeks

Prove

100 to 500 assets, one flow, one region, in your real operation. You leave with a loss map and a proven tag mix.

Phased

Scale

More flows, integrations and automation. Expansion follows evidence, not a contract.

Questions

Asked before people pick a technology

Is Rotion tied to a specific tag or hardware brand?

No. Rotion is hardware-agnostic and does not sell tags. It records custody the same way whether the read comes from a phone, a handheld, an RFID portal, or a BLE gateway, so the hardware is chosen per flow and can change later without changing your data.

Can we start without buying any hardware?

Yes. Most fleets start with printed QR codes and the phones the team already carries. That covers every flow where someone handles the asset. RFID portals or BLE tags are added later, on the flows where your loss data justifies them.

Can we use the RFID tags or barcodes already on our assets?

Yes. Existing barcodes and EPC-encoded RFID tags map in as asset identifiers, alongside GS1-compliant IDs. Labels are printed only for assets that carry none.

What is parent-child tracking?

About one asset in ten carries an LTE tracker with GPS. The rest carry low-cost BLE tags that report their position through the nearest parent. It gives bulk assets like roller cages a near-real-time location without a GPS tracker on each one.

Can Rotion count assets that have no label?

Yes. Take a photo of a stack, pallet or cage and Rotion's AI counts the assets in it, then compares the count to the order. It is useful at handovers where assets carry no code, or where scanning each code would take too long.

Can customers ask for a pickup or reorder by scanning a code?

Yes. A customer scans the QR code on an empty asset with the phone camera and asks for a pickup or reorders in the browser, without installing an app. Rotion creates the pickup task or passes the order on to your systems.

Do customers need an app to return an asset?

No. Rotion codes follow GS1 Digital Link, so a customer scans the code with the phone camera and confirms the return in the browser. Your own team and regular partners use the Rotion scan app for batch scans and offline work.

Bring your flows. Leave with a tag mix and a budget.

Asset types, sites, handover points and what you already have on your assets. We map them before you buy anything.

Read the technical reference