Real Time Tracking of RFID-Tagged Tools with WISER Ultra-Wideband (UWB)

The problem: Burdensome inventory requirements

A US military Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) group oversaw 130,000 tools in a small warehouse. Although the tools were organized into 9000 kits, they were still often mislaid, not returned to the right kit or storage area after use, or shared improperly. To reduce tool loss, technicians and warehouse personnel were required to perform inventory checks three times a day, resulting in six hours of lost work each day that could have been spent on more pressing tasks. Inventory clerks also spent four hours daily searching for missing items, leading to an annual labor cost of over $200,000 for this single warehouse.

In addition to being time-consuming, the inventory process was also prone to human error. Furthermore, tool clerks and technicians saw significant back-up at tool check-in counters since many individual technicians relied on the services of the same few tool clerks.

To make matters worse, in this particular case, federal regulatory require always-on real-time tool tracking to prevent Foreign Object Damage (FOD), which can be extremely dangerous.

The Solution: - WISER Locator System and Passive RFID

To address these challenges, the military maintenance group partnered with WISER and an RFID solution provider. RFID scanning portals throughout the facility would have been too expensive for the size of the warehouse and the number of tools involved. However, by using RFID on individual tools and WISER Ultra-Wideband (UWB) tracker tags on tool kits and storage kiosks, inventory management was streamlined into a single, always-current report on the location of every lot/tool.

RFID scans at check-out and check-in confirm the presence of each tool within the kit. WISER Systems’ constant location updates show if each kit is in the right place before and after checkout. The combination of tool kit scans and positioning histories from the WISER Locator creates a comprehensive trail of accountability for misplaced tools at any stage of the process.

The Results: Less time spent searching for inventory

The WISER Locator and RFID asset tracking solution was shown to save over 9000 hours each year. This allows inventory clerks to assist more technicians and focus on critical maintenance tasks. Additional hours could be repurposed, leading to increased productivity as technicians can complete assigned MRO tasks more quickly.

The application of real-time asset tracking systems is highly beneficial in manufacturing environments where numerous items with RFID labels are stored and/or moved in crates, lots, bins, or on pallets. Ultra-wideband (UWB) technology can then track items at various levels, such as the cart, rack, or pallet, as well as across entire lots or work order runs of materials.

By implementing such systems, human errors are effectively eliminated, and unauthorized equipment removal is prevented, leading to manageable inventory processes that are much more dependable. WISER’s Locator and ATLAS RTLS solutions stand out as a game-changer in tool container and storage tracking, significantly enhancing efficiency and driving down costs.

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