Blue Yonder Group, Inc. has secured Swanson Reed’s patent of the month for February 2026, recognized as an outstanding invention in the Lean Manufacturing, Logistics and Supply Chain industry. This innovation focuses on their newly patented system, titled ‘Systems and methods of reverse logistics without packaging and labelling’. The patent describes a sophisticated method for planning and executing the return of ordered products without the need for traditional packaging and labelling.

Streamlining Product Returns

Abstract: A system and method are disclosed for planning a return of ordered products without packaging and labelling. The method further includes identifying product returns that do not require packaging and labelling, generating a return collection plan indicating the product returns to be received and picked up, wherein the product returns do not require packaging for transport by the returns pickup vehicle, communicating the return collection plan to collection resources, generating a loading plan for the product returns, communicating the loading plan for a collection resource to access and follow in loading the product returns on the returns pickup vehicle, generating an inbound staging plan for the product returns, and communicating the inbound staging plan to receiving resources.

How it Meets the U.S. R&D Tax Credit Rules

To qualify for the U.S. R&D Tax Credit, activities must pass the IRS’s four-part test. Blue Yonder’s patented system serves as an excellent example of qualifying activities:

• Permitted Purpose: The objective is to create a new or improved business component. By eliminating packaging and labelling from reverse logistics, the company is fundamentally improving process efficiency, reducing material waste, and enhancing performance.
• Technological in Nature: The innovation fundamentally relies on the hard sciences—specifically computer science and logistics engineering—to generate automated collection, loading, and staging plans.
• Elimination of Technical Uncertainty: Before creating this system, there was inherent uncertainty regarding the capability or methodology of reliably tracking and routing loose, unlabeled inventory without high error rates.
• Process of Experimentation: The company had to evaluate multiple alternatives, algorithms, and system architectures to successfully generate and communicate actionable loading and staging plans without relying on standard barcode scans.

3 Practical R&D Applications

Here are three practical development scenarios related to this patent that would qualify for the R&D tax credit:

1. Developing Dynamic Routing and Collection Algorithms: Designing, coding, and iteratively testing software algorithms that can dynamically generate return collection plans for vehicles. The experimentation involved in ensuring the algorithm correctly routes drivers for unpackaged items based on real-time spatial constraints qualifies as R&D.
2. Engineering Custom Loading Plan Software: Creating a digital interface or system that generates precise loading plans for drivers to securely stow loose items. If software engineers had to design multiple iterations to test how the system assigns space within the vehicle without standard box dimensions, those development hours are eligible.
3. Integrating Automated Staging System APIs: Developing custom communication protocols to instantly sync inbound staging plans with existing Warehouse Management Systems (WMS). Testing these data bridges for latency, fault tolerance, and accuracy to ensure receiving resources are properly prepared for unpackaged goods involves resolving technical uncertainty through experimentation.