Newmont Mining had identified that they had a need to track their fixed assets in a rugged and harsh environment.
There were numerous types of equipment to be labelled with an asset tag. There were various material types but they were all exposed to a dirty environment, harsh climatic conditions and no guarantee of being able to see the asset label.
The solution:
BCDS Identification Technologies provided an ideal solution overcoming all the problems identified by Newmont Mining.
It was identified that a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) transponder would be a suitable asset tag.
A low frequency RFID transponder encapsulated in PET being able to withstand low and high temperatures in excess of 100 degrees Celsius was chosen.
This transponder also supports the protocols outlined by the ISO standard, meaning that the transponders conformed to an open-systems policy adopted by BCDS Identification Technologies whereby numerous RFID manufacturers’ hardware can read ISO compliant transponders and the customer is not locked into a proprietary system.
These transponders can be read without line of sight being necessary, when attached to metal surfaces or covered in water.
BCDS Identification Technologies provided its asset tracking software to run on Psion Workabout portable data terminals equipped with RFID reader modules.
The software is versatile in being able to receive the asset register file from any host system capable of exporting a text file. This file is downloaded to a laptop/PC where locations are selected and downloaded to the Psion Workabout. The items for these locations are included in the download with the description of the asset.
The user goes to the location and reads the RFID transponder where the unit will display the description of the asset. Status codes are entered on-site along with comments if required.
After the auditing has been completed, an upload of data back to the laptop/PC is done, where reports can be completed whilst on-site. After confirmation by the manager, the new asset register file is uploaded to the host database updating the asset register file.