Manufacturing

Healthcare

High Value Asset Security

Finding a way to accurately track inventory, materials, and workflow may be one of the most difficult problems facing modern supply chain management. The solutions typically have ranged from primitive paper-tracking methods to more advanced bar coding and warehouse management systems (WMS).

No technology has been completely up to the task. As a tracking mechanism, bar coding works well at the transaction level – for example, at the time of receiving and put-away. However, it can break down if a container or part is moved without being scanned again, as frequently happens. Similar problems plague WMS-type installations, which again tend to track the last "known" location.  In both instances, the tracking is only as good as the last scan.

Keeping track of work-in-process inventory using paper is, to be generous, an invitation to disaster. Following the paper trail is too cumbersome, too time-consuming, too expensive, and too vulnerable to human error.

Real Time Locating Systems address the weaknesses of conventional supply chain management systems with wireless technology, providing instantaneous location, tracking, and management of supply chain resources. Containers, tools, and other items are fitted with a wireless electronic tag that emits a unique tracking signal. The signal of each tag is then monitored by a cellular system of readers that receive and relay the tag’s location to a host computer. The location information is then displayed on a LAN or across the web.

By continuously monitoring signals from the tags, RTLS can identify item locations, providing managers with a real-time picture of supply chain movement and workflow.

When used with containers, pallets, parts, and equipment, RTLS streamlines production staging, inventory control, and finished goods putaway and retrieval. RTLS also eliminates the error-prone methods used commonly in work-in-process and queue-time tracking, allowing operators to instantly determine the location of a specific job, the process stage, and the dwell time.

When deployed in a warehouse or distribution center, RTLS expands the percentage of useable storage area by eliminating the need to allocate bin or rack space to individual cartons or part numbers. As a wireless alternative for asset management and job-order tracking, RTLS is effective in reducing tool losses and supplying up-to-the-minute information on job status and delivery dates.

Businesses need faster cycle times, lower costs and greater efficiency. But new demands for build-to-order products with ever-shrinking lead times require more timely and accurate information. Efficient manufacturing requires instant, continuous, and precise knowledge of parts availability, and work-in-process status. RTLS provides total visibility of parts, tools, WIP, finished goods inventory and personnel as they move throughout the factory.

Real Time Locating Systems (RTLS) bring new levels of cost effectiveness and efficiency to manufacturing and supply chain management by enabling businesses to locate, track, secure and inventory their assets. Thousands of high-value assets are managed, including raw materials, sub-assemblies, work in process and finished goods. Mobile resources – people or portable equipment – are located. Assets moving through the manufacturing process are continuously visible.

RTLS tags affixed to inventory, parts, goods and machines are visible through the factory — from receiving raw materials to assembling or machining work-in-process inventory, to finished goods packaging, to shipping. On a LAN or through the web, asset location is instantly available, including where it has been and who has handled it. RTLS provides an audit trail to determine queue lengths and cycle times, which is leveraged to eliminate process bottlenecks, reduce lead times and increase inventory turns.

Perpetual Inventory Management: A RTLS tag is placed on each pallet, rack, or item that enters the factory. Detailed reports are generated that describe the location and quantities on hand for each material, SKU, or product. There’s no need for time-consuming cycle counts or physical inventory counts. That means fewer stock-outs, reduced inventory shrinkage and faster
delivery.

Overflow Management: Overflow inventory in temporary facilities is difficult for ERP systems to track. With RTLS tags on all inventory, the location of every batch and lot is visible. If the warehouse is located in a different facility, RTLS is used to monitor when inventory left the factory and when it arrived at the warehouse - all automatically. Pick and pack from the overflow area without corrupting perpetual inventory. Quickly spot when there’s sufficient room to move overflow inventory into the main warehouse. The result: fewer back orders, greater personnel productivity, better use of storage space, and — most importantly — improved customer satisfaction.

Personnel Location: With RTLS tags affixed to personnel badges, people can find each other quickly and easily. Tags equipped with a call button allow employees to contact the system. Alarms can prevent unskilled employees from operating dangerous equipment. Unauthorized access to inventory or secured areas of the plant is prohibited. Contractor or visitor movements are monitored. RTLS also tracks all personnel movements to record who moved what inventory and where it was moved.

Inventory and Equipment Security: Inventory shrinkage is an unpleasant fact of life in manufacturing. For higher levels of security, non-removable RTLS tags are affixed to expensive inventory and capital assets. Alarms activate when a tagged asset travels beyond permissible zones. Matching personnel badges to zones or individual assets prevents unauthorized access.

Facing greater scrutiny from regulators and payers, healthcare organizations are under tremendous pressure to improve efficiency without sacrificing patient care. To maximize their use of existing capital equipment, minimize lost or stolen assets, and increase the productivity of their employees, many healthcare organizations are seeking ways to quickly find and track their valuable assets and ensure those assets remain in the facility. That means finding the motorized wheelchair, portable pacemaker, infusion pump, or other expensive equipment in a streamlined, decentralized model and making sure that the individual leaving the building with a valuable piece of equipment actually has the right to do so.

Other challenges arise from finding people. At critical times, find doctors, nurses, orderlies, or patients without delay. Finally, security issues are a key concern. Certain patients - such as those under psychiatric care, Alzheimer’s victims, patients with highly communicable diseases, patients under protective custody, or newborn babies - require extra measures to ensure their
safety.

RTLS tags are affixed to mobile assets to locate them instantly and track their usage and movement over time. Valuable assets can be found from any PC connected to the network. Find the nearest wheelchair or portable X-ray machine - and send an orderly to retrieve it expeditiously. Identify under-used equipment – before making unnecessary capital purchases. And prevent loss or unauthorized off-premises use of equipment.

Locate Hospital Personnel Instantly: For greater productivity and efficiency, RTLS tags are affixed to standard personnel and visitor badges. Any networked PC can be used to find the orthopedist who’s nearest the emergency room or the orderly who can bring the newly admitted patient to their ward. Track each individual’s movements through a historical audit trail. Personnel tags can even be associated with other asset tags for "authorized" or "unauthorized" proximity. Set alarms and log activities if people — such as a visitor or contractor — are in unauthorized locations or possess assets that do not belong to them.

Track Patients and Keep Them Safe: RTLS personnel tags provide an ideal solution to locating patients and hospital personnel.  Now, any nurse, doctor, or orderly can instantly locate a patient and, if necessary, determine where they have been. This can minimize idle time in operating suites, labs, and clinics, saving hundreds of man-hours each month. What’s more, RTLS can
ensure safety and security for patients that require additional precautions, such as Alzheimer’s, psychiatric, or neonatal patients, by triggering alarms if the patients leave designated zones.

Businesses today buy, store, use - and lose - more high-value assets than ever before. Whether it’s stolen inventory, pilfered computers, or lost equipment, the hidden costs of these disappearing assets are staggering in both dollars and productivity. The requirement for today’s successful security effort is to minimize these losses and maintain a secure area - without compromising a positive working environment.

Fortunately, there are now solutions that provide efficient, comprehensive, cost-security for your people and assets. Real Time Locating Systems (RTLS) enable organizations to locate, track, secure, and inventory their valuable resources. RTLS is ideal for organizations that need to manage high-value assets throughout their facilities. Secure fixed assets, like inventory or equipment.

Track mobile assets like people or portable devices. Track people –employees, visitors, or contractors –and their movements throughout your facilities. RTLS represents a major step forward in tracking and managing assets and people. While other technologies can tell you where an asset was last seen, only RTLS can tell you where it is now.

Greater Asset Security: RTLS tags are affixed to inventory, parts, goods, equipment, and personnel badges to track their locations and movement through the facility. Generate a comprehensive audit trail for every asset over any length of time. Know where an asset is, where it has moved throughout the facility, who has handled it, and for how long. Administrators can establish software "alarms" between assets by simply pointing and clicking. For example, an alarm might pair a specific laptop computer with a specific employee. If another employee is with that computer in an unauthorized location — such as near an exit door — an alarm can be activated. Unlike RFID products, the alarm can be triggered well before the asset leaves the building — not when the employee is at the door or out of the building. Trigger an alarm if a tagged personnel badge for a temporary employee enters a restricted zone of your warehouse where you store expensive goods and materials. Disable motion detectors when properly tagged
personnel are in range.

Personnel Security: With RTLS tags on personnel badges, access to zones or facilities are restricted based on an individual’s responsibilities and security clearances. For example, if an unauthorized employee enters a sensitive area (where a classified project is underway or where expensive inventory is stored, for example), host software can trigger an alarm and store the event in a database. This feature is ideal for visitors and contractors who otherwise require constant escorts.

Portable Equipment Security: RTLS can secure expensive portable equipment with greater ease and confidence by "matching" tagged assets with RTLS personnel badges. For example, an employee exiting the building with their assigned laptop computer passes through the lobby without any alarm. However, a different employee carrying that same computer or other tagged devicethrough the lobby would generate an alarm.

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