Asphalt manufacturer adopts RFID to manage the inspection of safety equipment
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An American asphalt product manufacturer uses RFID technology at 16 local production sites to improve the inspection process of eye washers, fire extinguishers and other safety equipment. The company, which did not want to be named, also uses RFID to ensure that the tests are carried out as planned and to realize the electronic test results.
The system provided by CASE Inc. was installed in December 2008. According to Thomas McKane, president of CASE, the system has provided the company with two advantages so far. First, the inspection process is recorded electronically. The new system makes the inspection process faster and simpler, saving an average of 30% of the inspector’s time. Second, RFID ensures that the inspection is carried out as planned, and the results can be obtained in real time when needed. The previous paper recording method has no way of knowing whether the inspection is carried out according to the plan and step by step.
This system uses Ferroxcube’s 13.56 MHz high-frequency passive tags, Tracient Technology’s handheld RFID readers, Motion Computing’s F5 tablet PCs (with embedded readers) and CASE software to help the company track related inspections in multiple locations data.
This bitumen manufacturer has thousands of safety equipment that must be tested weekly, monthly or yearly. Routine testing is to ensure the availability of these devices at any time. Before adopting the RFID system, employees manually recorded the test results, stored the relevant records in the file cabinet, and obtained them when needed by managers or government agencies. However, manual recording is not only a slow process, the recording is often rough and sometimes inaccurate. The RFID system realizes the automation and digitization of inspection records, and relevant personnel can obtain the inspection results on the same day.
In November 2008, after testing several RFID readers and tags, CASE chose Tracient and Motion Computing equipment and Ferroxcube tags. According to McKane, the Ferroxcube label conforms to the ISO 15693 standard, works well in a metal environment, and is cheaper than other labels, making it the best label choice for this project. In this application, almost every label is directly mounted on the metal. The Ferroxcube tag contains an antenna made of ferrous salt material, which can concentrate the magnetic components of radio frequency waves, making the antenna highly sensitive.
The inspector carries a tablet PC (the company has 70 units in total) or Tracient RFID readers (a total of 45 units) to read the ID code of the tag, and the latter sends the information to the flat PC assigned to the inspector via Bluetooth. Before work, the inspectors enter their own ID code in the reader or flat PC to instruct them to perform all the next inspection steps. Motion Computing PCs with built-in RFID readers can read the ID code of the detected item tag. The CASE software of the tablet PC then displays a series of yes or no questions and some other digital options. The inspector must respond to this. The answer is stored on a flat PC and sent to the company’s Microsoft SQL back-end system via Wi-Fi or cable connection.
In some cases, RFID tags are difficult to read, such as the tags are attached to the back of the pump body. At this time, the inspector can use the Tracient PadlR reader to read the tags. PadlR is shaped like a stick and is suitable for small places. Because there is a Bluetooth connection between the reader and the flat PC, all detection data, such as the status of a specific device, can be upgraded on the Tracient reader, stored in the flat PC, and then sent back to the SQL server for management in different factories and offices The staff can obtain these data through the local area network.
The flat PC also includes a camera, which the inspector can use to take pictures of the inspected equipment when needed, and a Wi-Fi network card.
Asphalt Company conducted an RFID system test in December last year and officially adopted the system in several locations in March this year. There are now more than 7,000 tags for fire extinguishers and other equipment.
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