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Holt Cat Markets RFID for Tool Tracking
With the AccuTRACKER solution from Holt Cat and SAVR, the dealer has an automatic view into which worker is using which particular tool, and for how long.
Staff members carry ID cards in their back pockets. Each contains a passive high-frequency (HF) 13.56 MHz RFID tag that complies with the ISO 15693 standard and is encoded with a unique identification number. As an employee enters the portal, Feig Electronic reader antennas capture that individual's ID number, while Sirit ultrahigh-frequency (UHF) readers and antennas capture the ID numbers encoded to the Gen 2 tags attached to each tool that employee may be returning.
Several different kinds of UHF tags are placed on tools, which vary from drill pits and wrenches to floor sweepers and 50-ton presses. Conversely, when a technician leaves the tool room with tools, the UHF tags—which have a 2-foot read range—are interrogated along with the RFID badge's HF tag, associating that employee with those tools in the system.
By using UHF tags for tools and HF tags for staff IDs, Pavuk says, the system is able to easily differentiate between the two. This makes it easier for an employee's ID to be isolated from a tool's ID number.
According to Pavuk, it cost Holt Cat approximately $70,000 to install the system at one facility, so with $10,000 wasted in man-hours searching for tools each month, he calculates his company saw a return on investment within seven months, based on that cost alone. The system also provides greater security, however, since tools are less likely to simply walk away.
In addition, because the AccuTRACKER software system is integrated with Holt Cat's central ERP system, it can be accessed company-wide. In that way, different facilities can share tools and track their movements and locations, thereby providing the firm with insight into how often specific, more expensive tools are utilized, and in which facilities—information it can then utilize to make purchasing decisions.
Marketing the system, Pavuk estimates, will earn Holt Cat approximately $1 million in sales in 2009, and more than that amount in 2010. Holt Cat is currently in discussions with other potential customers, he says, such as mining and construction companies.
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Staff members carry ID cards in their back pockets. Each contains a passive high-frequency (HF) 13.56 MHz RFID tag that complies with the ISO 15693 standard and is encoded with a unique identification number. As an employee enters the portal, Feig Electronic reader antennas capture that individual's ID number, while Sirit ultrahigh-frequency (UHF) readers and antennas capture the ID numbers encoded to the Gen 2 tags attached to each tool that employee may be returning.
Several different kinds of UHF tags are placed on tools, which vary from drill pits and wrenches to floor sweepers and 50-ton presses. Conversely, when a technician leaves the tool room with tools, the UHF tags—which have a 2-foot read range—are interrogated along with the RFID badge's HF tag, associating that employee with those tools in the system.
By using UHF tags for tools and HF tags for staff IDs, Pavuk says, the system is able to easily differentiate between the two. This makes it easier for an employee's ID to be isolated from a tool's ID number.
According to Pavuk, it cost Holt Cat approximately $70,000 to install the system at one facility, so with $10,000 wasted in man-hours searching for tools each month, he calculates his company saw a return on investment within seven months, based on that cost alone. The system also provides greater security, however, since tools are less likely to simply walk away.
Marketing the system, Pavuk estimates, will earn Holt Cat approximately $1 million in sales in 2009, and more than that amount in 2010. Holt Cat is currently in discussions with other potential customers, he says, such as mining and construction companies.
