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UTZ SMART RTP

Know where every container is, and what happened to it on the way

Returnable containers sit at customer sites for weeks, get opened between the dock and the store, and arrive damaged or warm with no record of when it happened. SMART RTP is the UTZ container you already run, with a tag that reports where it is and every time the lid opens.

See the use cases Watch the stage demo
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1. Idle containers

Find the containers sitting at other people’s sites

Most of a returnable container’s life is spent waiting at a customer, a supplier or a distributor. When they don’t come back in time, packing waits or someone orders more, and the pool grows every year.

With SMART RTP

  • Days idle for every container, by site
  • An alert when a site holds containers past its limit
  • A pickup list for routes you already run
$244M
of the US Postal Service’s reusable trays, containers and pallets were unaccounted for at mailers’ sites in 2021. It spent about $300 million on new ones over five years. USPS Office of Inspector General, 2022

2. Pilferage and custody

Know when a lid was opened, where, and who had it

Goods go missing between the dock and the drop, and a short delivery rarely comes with a record of which container it was in or who was holding it.

With SMART RTP

  • A lid that locks, so the sides can’t be flexed open at the edges
  • Every opening recorded with a time, and a place when a reader is in range
  • An order assigned to a container at packing, so the container carries the custody record
$725M
in estimated cargo theft losses in the US and Canada in 2025, up 60% on 2024. Food and beverage thefts rose 47%, the largest increase of any category. CargoNet (Verisk), 2025

3. Damage and claims

Show where the load was dropped, and who had it

When goods arrive damaged, the shipper, the carrier and the receiver each have their own account of where it happened. Without a record, the claim comes down to whose paperwork is better.

With SMART RTP

  • Shock and tip events with the time, the place and how hard
  • Who had the load at that moment, from the custody record
  • The event history to attach to the claim

Shock and temperature come from a LocoTrack HGR4 tracker travelling with the load.

4. Cold chain

See when a load got warm, and where

A temperature excursion usually shows up at receiving, hours after it happened. By then nobody can say whether it was the dock, the truck or the handover.

With SMART RTP

  • Temperature logged against the container’s route
  • An alert when a load passes its limit, with the time and place
  • A record to keep for food safety audits
FSMA
The FDA Sanitary Transportation rule requires food that needs temperature control to travel under adequate temperature control, and a carrier can be asked to show it did, for example with time and temperature data. FDA, 21 CFR 1.908

Shock and temperature come from a LocoTrack HGR4 tracker travelling with the load.

Industries

For loops where the container comes back

If you send containers out and expect them back, these are the problems SMART RTP is for.

Food and beverage

Bakery, dairy, produce and beverage loops to stores and distributors. Crates held at stores, loads going missing from warehouses and distribution centers, and temperature records for the food safety file.

Automotive and manufacturing

Parts moving between suppliers and plants in returnables. Containers held at supplier sites, empties that miss the return run, and lines waiting on packaging.

Retail and grocery distribution

Totes from the distribution center to stores and back. Totes that stay at the store, goods missing from deliveries, and no record of which tote they were in.

Pharma and high-value goods

Custody of each container from packing to delivery, every lid opening on record, and temperature where the product needs it.

The SMART container, with the tag in its end wall lit

The container

The UTZ container you already run, with a tag in the end wall

The same 600 × 400 × 300 mm attached-lid container, on the same racking, dollies and wash lines. The tag broadcasts to phones, gateways and trackers nearby, so there’s no label to scan and nothing bolted on. SMART containers go into an existing UTZ pool alongside the ones already there.

IP67
Sealed
Steam
Cleanable
−13 to 131 °F
Operating range
4 years
On 2 × AA cells
328 ft
Read range, up to

Your data

Getting the data into your systems is the easy part

Every SMART container reports through the phones, gateways and trackers around it into LocoAware, System Loco’s data platform. From there each event goes to the system or the person who acts on it.

Containers

UTZ SMART containersEvery container in the pool

Read by

PhonesThe app, on any phone nearby
GatewaysFixed at docks, stores and depots
TrackersLocoTrack HGR4 with the load

Platform

LocoAwareby System Loco

Delivered to

Your systemsERP, WMS and TMS
Agentic AIAgents that act on events
Data warehouseEvery event, queryable
  • Seen at a location
  • Lid opened
  • Checked in
  • Delivered event

Where each event goes

  • Container idle past its limitPickup list for transport planning, in your ERP
  • Lid opened outside its zoneAlert to security or loss prevention
  • Shock during a handoverEvent with who had the load, for claims
  • Temperature over its limitAlert to QA, and a record for the audit file
  • Every eventYour data warehouse, and AI agents that act on it
01

Pushed to you, or pulled when you want it

LocoAware sends events into your ERP, WMS, TMS or warehouse, and the same data is there through the API.

02

Rules before it reaches you

Geofences, RF zones and lid state turn raw reads into events worth acting on, so your team gets the exceptions and not every read.

03

Documentation and example code

System Loco provide the integration software, API documentation and example code, so connecting it is a small job for your team.

Getting started

Prove it on one route

It’s the same UTZ container from the first trial to a full rollout, so each stage is a question of quantity rather than hardware.

  1. 01

    Starter kit

    A SMART container, a tracker and the app, set up before they ship. Run it on one real route or site.

    See the events come through from your own route.

  2. 02

    Proof of concept

    More containers on a defined loop, with the phones and gateways that loop needs.

    Measure it against your current loss, dwell, claims and availability figures.

  3. 03

    Staged rollout

    Route by route or site by site. Existing UTZ customers can bring SMART containers into the pool they already run.

    Track the same figures as each route goes live.

Powered by System Loco

Built on tracking that’s already running around the world

System Loco has more than 4 million GPS-based tracking devices deployed globally, and their LocoAware platform handles that data every day. SMART RTP runs on the same platform.

4 million+GPS-based tracking devices deployed globally
200M+
Data points processed a day
65+
Countries certified
70+
Airline certifications
systemloco.com

  • Interoperable with all System Loco technology

    A SMART container is read by any System Loco tracker, gateway or phone app that hears it.

  • LocoAware

    Reports, alerts, geofences and RF zones, and the integrations that put the results in your systems.

  • LocoTrack HGR4

    A rechargeable tracker on LTE-M, GSM and Wi-Fi that adds shock and temperature, and acts as a gateway for up to 1,000 tags.

Pack Expo 2026

The SMART RTP stage demo

The live dashboard from the Pack Expo stage show: a drop, a sealed container changing hands, a lid opened inside a geofence, containers idle at distributors and a cold chain breach. It runs in the browser. Open it full screen and use the arrow keys.

The SMART RTP stage dashboard showing a shock alert on two containersOpen the stage demo

About UTZ

Reusable containers since 1947

The UTZ Group is family-owned and headquartered in Bremgarten, Switzerland. In North America, Georg Utz, Inc. makes containers at its plant in Edinburgh, Indiana. UTZ make standard containers, pallets and component holders, and custom packaging designed around a customer’s product, process and automation, and help customers recycle containers at the end of their life.

1947
Founded
Indiana
US plant, Georg Utz, Inc.
8
Countries with UTZ production
1,300
Employees

Production in the United States, Switzerland, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Poland, China and Mexico.

Visit utzgroup.com

Pack Expo 2026 · Booth TBC

Talk to UTZ about SMART RTP

Tell us about the loop you run and we’ll help you work out where to start.

Contact UTZ Open the stage demo
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