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Management, Traceability, and Control of Tools and Tablets with RFID in the Energy Industry
NEXESS was selected by EDF Golfech to provide an RFID technology-based management, traceability, and control solution for tools and tablets stored in warehouses and distributed within the department.
This solution gives service agents responsible for tools and tablets the ability to view all equipment movement (loans/returns), consult their availability, and monitor them for calibration or maintenance purposes.
85% of electricity production in France comes from nuclear facilities. The EDF Golfech site, composed of two pressurized water reactors, produces more than 19 billion kilowatt hours each year, accounting for 6% of electricity production in France. When needed, it is essential that tools and/or tablets are operational and available as quickly as possible.
The EDF Golfech service has around fifty references (tools and tablets) to manage and track. Each tool and tablet must be available, locatable, and in perfect working order at all times.
Automate the Management, Traceability, and Inspection of Tools and Tablets
The main objective is “making the targeted management of tools and tablets autonomous within the department” explains Sébastien Vidal, deputy service manager.
After all, poor management of tools and tablets (missing or damaged equipment, calibration dates exceeded) can have significant consequences in terms of production, quality and safety. As a result, tools and tablets must be available, locatable, and in perfect working order at all times.
However, day-to-day equipment management is carried out manually, using spreadsheet-type software to monitor various stock levels, locate stock, monitor regulatory controls, etc. This type of manual updating is often error-ridden and time-consuming, and there is no certainty that the information contained in the spreadsheet will be reliable and accurate.
In seeking to adopt a management and traceability solution using RFID technology, the customer wants to ensure permanent availability and good condition of all equipment, through secure access to tools and tablets, real-time inventory, automatic tracking of calibration dates, etc. This solution aims to ensure the availability and correct functioning of equipment in order to optimize productivity and quality.
“Making the targeted management of tools and tablets autonomous within the department”
EDF’s Golfech site has chosen the NEXESS NEXCAP® solution to monitor its tools and tablets using RFID technology.
NEXESS has extensive experience in the traceability of sensitive equipment by means of RFID, across various industries: Nuclear, Petrochemicals, Aeronautics, etc.
This solution is composed of three elements:
A NEXESS XL RFID smart cabinet which stores and automatically manages all movements of tools and tablets (inventory, calibration, maintenance, updates) while limiting user access.
RFID Tablet mobile solutions and RFID mobile readers, formerly Workabout Pro 3 industrial mobile readers (PDA) from Motorola Solutions, equipped with UHF 500mW RFID readers.
A NEXCAP® software suite developed by NEXESS, with a business interface installed on the RFID cabinets and a web interface deployed within the Engineering, Works and Modifications department.
Once identified by their RFID badge, the user can easily access the cabinet to borrow or return one or more tablets.
Once the cabinet doors are locked, an automatic content inventory is conducted in real time.
Service agents can consult, directly on the cabinet, a list of tools and tablets contained in each cabinet and equipment currently on loan, or even carry out a location search for a particular tool or tablet.
This is possible because each item of equipment is equipped with an RFID (radio frequency identification) tag (built into the tool or attached onto the tool or tablet) enabling the RFID cabinet to identify the movements of each piece of equipment, track them, and time stamp them (who, what, when, where).
If an item of equipment is missing from a NEXESS smart RFID cabinet, the cabinet will generate an alert.
A service agent, using a mobile reader (PDA), will then be able to perform a specific search (tool or tablet).
In addition, the NEXCAP® software suite allows service agents to easily consult, via a user-friendly interface, the full history of equipment movements: returns, loans, tools or tablets used for maintenance, location of equipment, inventories, etc.
NEXCAP® enables complete real-time management and traceability of equipment, as well as calibration and maintenance monitoring for each tool and tablet.
All data on traceability, controls, inventories, and movement history is then available remotely via the NEXCAP® web application.
NEXCAP® RFID Connected Object Management Solution for Industry
NEXCAP® is an RFID solution for managing connected objects in industry. Equipped with RFID tags, the objects are stored in intelligent RFID infrastructures. Field users have an instant overview of all stocks of items they wish to manage and track: tools, spare parts, metrology devices, tablets, computers, etc.
Each RFID Infrastructure is composed of dedicated functionalities designed around the connected object and its intended users: loans/returns, performance of scheduled tasks concerning the handling of a specific item of equipment, completion of controls on products subject to regulations, etc.
The operations carried out on NEXCAP® smart RFID infrastructures (connected via Ethernet or Wi-Fi to the application server) are tracked and logged in real-time on the NEXCAP® Web platform.
Functionalities including inventories, control reports and an alert dashboard are all used to supervise and link the actual situation in the field with the theoretical information on the accounting information systems.
An ideal RFID middleware solution, simultaneously enabling connection of RFID business apps (for managing slings, fire extinguishers, containers, etc.), mobile devices, and ERP-type software, the NEXCAP® platform is available in SAAS (Software As A Service) mode or hosted on the customer’s information system.
