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Houston, TX, USA, 02/18/00: Piping Technology & Products, Inc., in
conjunction with other sponsors, has completed the first pilot test of Radio Frequency
Identification (RFID) technology for the receipt and tracking of pipe supports
material at construction jobsites.
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| Figure 1:
The RFID tags and RFID handheld reader used by Piping Technology &
Products, Inc. at the Red Hills Power Plant. |
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| Figure 2: The material shown here arrived from PT&P's
manufacturing facility in Houston, Texas with an RFID tag affixed to
each pipe support assembly. |
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Piping Technology & Products, Inc. shipped approximately 150 pipe
supports to the Red Hills Power Plant with radio frequency identification (RFID)
chips affixed to each pipe supports. The RFID tags and RFID handheld
reader were provided by SAT Safetrac. Field personnel were trained on the
use of the new technology. The RFID-tagged pipe support assemblies were
then received by field personnel. Videos of the RFID receiving process
were taken for the purpose of comparative time and motion studies.
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| Figure 3:
PT&P provided pipe supports to the Red Hills Power Plant. Shown
here are two pipe supports installed on the power plant's 42"
steamline. |
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| Figure 4:
PT&P provided training to field personnel on the use of the Telxon
RFID handheld reader and the SAT Safetrac material receiving
application. Field personnel were able to indicate the quantity
received, the laydown yard location number and whether or not the
material was received damaged. |
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The RFID tags used were both readable and
writeble. This capability
enables information to be written back to the tag for enhanced asset management.
RFID tags do not require a line of sight for identification and readability is
not affected by bright lighting situations. A pipe support receiving
application was developed for the pilot in which the operator was able to change
three data fields on the tag: quantity received, location area in material
layout yard and damage status. This data was changed at the times of
receiving and was subsequently written back to the tag.
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| Figure 5:
Following training by Piping Technology & Products, Inc., field
personnel received the RFID tagged shipment of pipe supports.
The receipt process was recorded on video for analysis and time-motion
studies. |
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| Figure 6:
A photograph of the Red Hills Power Plant jobsite. Shown here is
the boiler unit provided by ABB-Alsthom. The Red Hills Power
Hills Power jobsite was chosen for a CII-sponsored pilot test of the
radio frequency identification (RFID) technology. The pilot test
involved the use of RFID technology in the receipt and issuance of
pipe supports material at the jobsite. |
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The RFID-Pipe Supports project is being led by Dr. Ed Jaselskis of Iowa State
University and is being conducted and sponsored in conjunction with the
Construction Industry Institute (CII). PT&P has supplied more than
2500 pipe supports to the Red-Hills Power Plant. Some specially engineered
supports supplied were designed for stress loads in excess of 250, 000 lbs. |
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