Score another for RFID’s industrial tool-tracking power
30 April, 2006
category: RFID
“We think that RFID offers the easiest and most effective way to manage industrial tool rooms,” said Tom McDonald, president of Data Support, Inc.
Mr. McD’s talking about Data Support’s partnership with General Dynamics, which just hit the wires. Data Support’s automated data collection and label printing solutions will help General Dynamics Land Systems track its tools in its Lima, Ohio facility.
General Dynamics Land Systems “identified the need to better manage tools in and out of their tool room at their Ohio facility,” according to a news release. “In particular, they want to assign these valuable tools to the person who takes them. Most importantly, the system needs to be automated and able to read these transactions without having to man the tool room. An automated tool tracking system, using RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) technology, has added to productivity.”
By integrating RFID tags for both the tools and the users, each tool’s movement is tracked by the Symbol antennas. This automated system then assigns the tool to the user and provides for a series of look-ups and reports. The system integrates signal lights and alarms to ensure accurate reading of the tags.