RFID at work

KingDing · 9 Mar 2013 at 15:46

Hi all.
I been thinking about an idea for work.
We have radios at work that tend to go missing around the building.

I was thinking of putting a RFID tag on the radio and as they pass through a doorway, it reads the tag and remembers its location.
So I can find where a certain radios last location.

I need something that reads at a distance of say a metre. Anyone got any ideas?

tom_e · 9 Mar 2013 at 15:48

Google RFID Asset tracking that'll point you in the right direction.

Bennie-Mac · 9 Mar 2013 at 16:13

http://www.amazon.co.uk/SmartFinder...locator/dp/B000KDM5O6/ref=tag_stp_s2_edpp_url

???

KingDing · 9 Mar 2013 at 16:23

it has to be small enough to place on radio, like the NFC discs.

Thanks for the responses as this has given me plenty to research.

Resident · 9 Mar 2013 at 18:53

Cheaper and easier solution would be to number the radios and then make staff sign them in and out when they have one. Make people RESPONSIBLE for the equipment they use and charge them for replacements.

You'll find that they go missing a lot less doing this.

KingDing · 9 Mar 2013 at 18:55

Resident said:
Cheaper and easier solution would be to number the radios and then make staff sign them in and out when they have one. Make people RESPONSIBLE for the equipment they use and charge them for replacements.

You'll find that they go missing a lot less doing this.

This is what we currently do. Trying to locate thru the records are a nightmare and also they still keep going missing with no trace.

Resident · 9 Mar 2013 at 20:28

KingDing said:
This is what we currently do. Trying to locate thru the records are a nightmare and also they still keep going missing with no trace.

So who's responsible for making sure the tracking is in order and following up who has what device? It needs to have a 'pecking order' to it.

Something along the lines of Bob can't find 1 so goes to Steve who's responsible of the tracking sheets. Now if Steve is doing his job by making sure people are filling out the forms right then when Bob kicks Steve's ass for missing equipment then Steve knows who to pass that ass-kicking onto however Steve should be ass-kicking in the first place so that he doesn't get his ass kicked.

It's a system they used at my last job and it worked, mostly because (warning, own trumpet blowing) I was in 'Steve's' position and I made sure people knew that whatever ass-kicking I got, they would get 10-fold.

KingDing · 9 Mar 2013 at 20:38

Well I just taken over as Bob.
the last audit was done over 2 years ago, bad admin I know.
I gone thru the records and found most of lost ones.
there are other reasons to have this system in place. Safety of staff.

Resident · 9 Mar 2013 at 23:00

KingDing said:
Well I just taken over as Bob.
the last audit was done over 2 years ago, bad admin I know.
I gone thru the records and found most of lost ones.
there are other reasons to have this system in place. Safety of staff.

Well if you're now Bob, then find Steve and kick his ass. If there is no Steve then find all the equipment, put it all in one place and make someone Steve.

Once the system is in place, implemented by you (bob) and working then Bob's boss (we'll call him Alan in light of recent news) will be happy that Bob has sorted the problem with little or no additional cost to the business.

piggeh · 9 Mar 2013 at 23:23

I know a few hospitals do this with equipment:

http://www.abrfid.com/Solutions/RFID-Hospital-Asset-Tracking

It will probably be quite costly to set up, but you could roll out a lot of other benefits if the readers etc are in place, ie full asset management/tracking, personnel location, etc.

Sheff · 9 Mar 2013 at 23:27

Give everyone a "key" or numbered token, each person has to give their token in when taking a radio out, number the radios too and record each radio to each token. At the end of the shift, If you have tokens then you know radios are still out and, just in case people swapped radios, you at least know who to ask first.

MrMoonX · 9 Mar 2013 at 23:45

Sheff said:
Give everyone a "key" or numbered token, each person has to give their token in when taking a radio out, number the radios too and record each radio to each token. At the end of the shift, If you have tokens then you know radios are still out and, just in case people swapped radios, you at least know who to ask first.

This it's called a tally, it's worked for years for both radios and keys in a prison I used to work in

Shelster · 18 Mar 2013 at 12:19

KingDing,

Did you get anywhere with this plan?

I am looking to get some information so I can put together a business case for where I work to try and start using RFID tags for both personnel tracking in buildings for fire safety and also for asset tracking / control. We currently build systems of several component items and I want to be able to have each one have its own tag or button which is then scanned in to the system and a whole build log generated. This can then be used by field techs when they visit site to check equipment details and also update the details if they find records don't tally.

Have been doing some Google-Fu and while there seems to be many companies out there, none of them seem to want to let you know how much the kit costs