Equipment Inspectors Find Safety in RFID

The handheld computers can hold up to 8 gigabytes of item-related data, which can be downloaded from a dedicated N4 Systems Web site utilizing an Ethernet cable at the office. Each handheld device stores data about the items on the work site, including the serial number encoded to each item's RFID tag. When an inspector employs the interrogator to read a tag's serial number, the handheld device uses that number to identify the type of equipment attached to it, then proceeds to prompt inspectors as to which procedure they should conduct for that specific category of equipment. Inspectors respond to prompts on the device as they complete the inspection.

Once the inspectors return to the office, the data is uploaded to the Internet-based server hosted by N4 Systems. N4 System software then makes inspection records immediately available to both Elko and the customer. "We expect this to save a lot of time," Hammond says.

Hercules SLR is currently using N4's software system to better manage its safety compliance. Like Elko, Hercules manufactures lifting and rigging products such as wire rope, chain and web slings, as well as fall-protection harnesses, that all need to be inspected. Some customers contract with Hercules to provide that inspection service. Customers of the Canadian company, which conducts business in Montreal and Halifax, must inspect equipment on a regular basis to meet several government agencies' regulations.

Hercules employs RFID-enabled Psion Teklogix mobile computers to inspect as many as a thousand pieces of equipment in one week. Before installing the N4 system in February, Hercules had been using an RFID solution from another vendor, according to N4 Systems' chief technology officer, Shaun Ricci. However, he says, the previous system was unable to manage the large amount of data exchange necessary for such a high volume of inspections. "They were not experiencing successful uploading of data," Ricci notes.

About 20 inspectors each use a Psion Teklogix mobile device when conducting a scheduled inspection or obtaining data about a specific piece of equipment following an accident or safety complaints. When an inspector scans an item's RFID tag, the handheld computer calls up its stored history of the item's inspections and displays that information on its screen. Although the devices can transmit data using a Wi-Fi or cellular connection, Hercules is uploading information at the office instead, in large part because there is no Wi-Fi or cellular connection available at the remote locations of most of its customers' work sites.

In the fall of 2007, hoist ring manufacturer Jergens began utilizing the N4 system for tracking the life cycle of its crane links (see Hoist-Ring Manufacturer Using RFID to Carry Life-Cycle Data). And in 2006, Unirope began employing a similar system to trace its chain and synthetic slings (see Unirope RFID-Enables Inspections for Industrial Slings).