Broadcast satellite company DIRECTV is implementing a radio frequency identification system to track 200,000 pieces of equipment at three broadcast centers, as well as nearly 200 smaller facilities. The system is intended to reduce inventory tracking time, while also improving inventory accuracy from 75 percent to 97 percent. The RFID system was taken live in December 2014, and the company expects that it will be able to decrease the amount of time required for performing a full inventory from years to months. The system also enables the collection of data that the company uses to track asset lifecycles and perform other business analytics. Hear how the next phase of the project will involve tagging and tracking assets at the company’s laboratory in El Segundo, and then at about 190 remote locations—13 of which are broadcast centers, the rest signal-collection or uplink centers—located throughout the United States.
