Monday, May 6, 2013

Redefining Tool Tracking for Equipment and Indirect Materials

Tools = Tooling = Indirect Materials = Conveyances = Equipment

Every industry and every business function needs to track capital equipment, whether it's used for service, manufacturing or  distribution operations.

For service providers in Healthcare, Aviation, Utilities and Transportation, the cost of tracking equipment is not just related to the value of the asset, but how often it is needed. A missing wheelchair or infusion pump can compromise patient care. A missing towbar or test kit can result in flight delays. 
For manufacturers - particularly for those with complex processes , production equipment and tooling is highly-specialized, single-sourced and difficult to replace. Misplaced or out-of-spec equipment can derail a production schedule.
For logistics providers - conveyances and reusable transport items (RTIs) must be carefully managed - missing conveyances make for missed shipments.





On the OATSystems website we have separate sections for equipment tracking and tool tracking based on how indirect materials are defined in different industries.  

When building our "asset wall"  and asset tracking for RFID Journal Live this year, we used sample assets from healthcare, manufacturing, aviation and transportation.   In this case, we didn't need to define "tool tracking" in a thousand words - we had the pictures, (of surgical trays, medical supplies, infusion pumps, autoclaves, ventilators, conveyances, bearing pullers, digital calipers, roll cages, composite tooling...) instead.

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