Industrial - Asset Tracking
As the largest contributor to a manufacture’s balance sheet, capital equipment and material offer the largest return for utilization efficiency. Misplaced inventory, idle fork trucks, scheduling interruptions, etc. contribute to overall equipment effectiveness (OEE). Smooth production requires choreography of the people, equipment and material that make up production.
AiRISTA Flow - RTLS Experts in Industrial Asset Tracking
AiRISTA Flow takes a technology agnostic approach to tracking location and movement of equipment and material, matching the right technology to the use case at a cost that provides an ROI. We combine passive RFID with active RTLS solutions like Wi-Fi and BLE with integrated tags to find the right balance to achieve process efficiency at a price that makes sense. These solutions can leverage the Wi-Fi already in place. For localized areas requiring higher levels of accuracy, BLE and passive RFID can be used to complement Wi-Fi. And GPS can be added for outdoor tracking. Location is displayed on a variety of smart mobile devices and displays to bring response to the production floor.
Efficient Utilization of Expensive Test Harnesses
An aircraft engine manufacturer overbuys test equipment to ensure these test harnesses are on hand when needed. By hiding RTLS tags under the foam padding in the equipment case, the path of the case is traced over time. Analysis of the paths and utilization rates allowed process improvements and reduction of excess equipment. Misplaced equipment can also be located and called up at a moment’s notice. Motion sensors also detect equipment in use and provide insight into utilization rates. Associating calibration dates with each piece of equipment helps drive maintenance schedules and align calibration with utilization rather than calendar dates.
AiRISTA Flow - RTLS Experts in Industrial Asset Tracking
Returning Missing Chassis To The Production Line
Several times a day, an auto manufacturer pulls white bodies from the production line (a white body is a car chassis before it is painted). These white bodies are set aside for QA or rework. When holding areas are overrun, these chassis are rolled to other areas to get them out of the way, often to low traffic areas where the chassis is forgotten. When the paint shop calls up these chassis, they need to be found quickly and returned to the line. If not recovered, these chassis are eventually scrapped representing a write down of several thousands of dollars per instance. Placing a Wi-Fi tag (with additional BLE radio for other use cases) on the white body, allows production to locate the missing chassis instantaneously for reinsertion before paint. It also allows an alert if the chassis sits idle for an extended period thanks to a motion sensor so proactive retrieval is possible.
AiRISTA Flow - RTLS Experts in Industrial Asset Tracking
Automating Inventory Accounting in Laydown Yard
Power utility maintains line equipment in laydown yards. Traditionally, paper-based systems have been used, but this approach led to errors. Line workers arrive to find material misplaced or missing. Using combination BLE + GPS tags and a couple BLE5.0 readers mounted to the side of the building, GPS coordinates are relayed over BLE giving an instantaneous accounting of inventory and location. With motion sensing, the tags sleep until motion is detected – saving battery life or alerting to possible theft if off hours.
