Colmobil, Israel's largest importer of automotive vehicles, is employing an RFID to reduce labor and expedite the movement of automobiles as they are brought into the country at two ports. Colmobil imports 25,000 to 35,000 cars each year-specifically, those made by Mercedes Benz, Mitsubishi Motors, Mitsubishi Fuso and Hyundai-and sells those vehicles to 1,500 dealerships throughout the nation.
The cars are brought into the Port of Eilat and Port of Ashdod, where they are first stored in each port's bonded open-air storage areas (prior to duty payments) for a month or longer. When Colmobil sells a new vehicle, the duty for that car is paid, and it can then be removed from the port's storage parking lot and shipped to one of the company's pre-delivery inspection facilities. In order for staff members to locate specific vehicles at one of the ports, they must go through the storage lot, which has as many as 37,000 parking spaces, and often that number of parked vehicles. The new system speeds the process considerably.
