The Challenges
Situated in Canada’s far-flung Northwest Territories, the site is spread across an area of nearly two square miles (over 5 square kilometers). The mining operations take place mostly underground, with many shafts drilled under a lake. In operation 24 hours a day, the company maintains a maintenance team onsite 24/7 to ensure round-the-clock availability of the drilling, collection, and transportation equipment.
All these mining operations conditions present unique challenges. The specialized onsite equipment requires particular maintenance tools such as specialized wrenches, drills, and saws, making visibility into their location and availability a critical requirement. The remote location and challenging environment drastically limit access to offsite spares and tools, increasing the value of the onsite tool inventory. Manual tracking has been in place, with the tool crib manned by a maintenance technician to oversee an inventory of over 1,000 items. However, record lapses would still happen regularly while providing no visibility into onsite tool availability.
The Solution
ToolHound SecureCrib™ kiosk solution, ToolHound Inc. turned the 275 square feet (25 square meters) onsite tool facility into a fully automated tool room.
To identify each tool and equipment in the inventory, the solution selected the small Nano Plus on-metal RFID tags for their field-proven robustness and opted for mounting using adhesive.
“Tracking metal tools that are typically covered in dirt requires quick and reliable RFID technology, particularly when there is no tool attendant on-site to verify the check-out process,” said Dean Perry, president of ToolHound
With its easy-to-use touch screen kiosk, maintenance technicians scan their badges to access the automated tool room. They then choose whether they are checking out or returning inventory. Doorways fitted with an Impinj reader scan the items and displays them on the computer screen. The operator confirms that the list matches its inventory to ensure accountability.
The Results
The tool inventory management software warns when an item is overdue for return. Moreover, it enables full visibility as to which maintenance technician has which tools at any given time. And by making comprehensive data available, the solution provides an unbiased insight into inventory usage.
As a result, the mining company leveraged the ToolHound RFID tool tracking solution to increase staff accountability and overall productivity while reducing equipment budgets.
Xerafy is a pioneer in Industrial RFID, bringing to market several innovations that enable advanced industrial identification and automation capabilities.
In addition to a complete range of field-proven RFID tags available off-the-shelf, Xerafy offers Custom RFID Tags services, covering everything from a personalization service bureau to custom-design engineering capabilities.
