RFID in Cutting Loss and Downtime in Healthcare and Construction

There’s a common thread between hospitals and construction sites: valuable equipment moves around all the time. Medical devices are carried around between wards and tools are carried around between crews, storage areas, and job sites.

Operating without visibility of equipment increases the amount of wasted time spent looking for equipment. A smarter approach for asset tracking with RFID can help keep operations moving, have better visibility, and minimize loss.

Importance of Equipment Tracking

Medical staff might need to move an infusion pump, wheelchair, patient monitor, ventilator, or other mobile device quickly in hospitals. RFID systems can offer location visibility and enable teams to know where equipment is available, being used, and/or in maintenance.

This is also a problem for construction companies. Some tools and equipment can be transported from one crew to another and from one job site to another, which makes manual inventorying challenging. RFID can be used to streamline inventories and increase accountability of valuable tools. Install RFID warehouse management system and improve the overall efficiency of your place.

RFID Asset Management Operates – How it Works

The core system consists of RFID tags, readers, and asset-management software.

Every asset is given a specific RFID tag, which is linked to the computerized asset information. Fixed readers can be used to track movement in specific areas, and handheld readers can be used to audit inventories and find specific equipment. The software keeps track of asset movements and can provide details like maintenance needs, location and status.

This translates to workers having more time on task and less time hunting and fishing.

Healthcare Applications

Expensive, mobile, and shared equipment such as hospital beds can be managed with RFID in hospitals.

Common applications include:

• Monitoring of infusion pumps, wheelchairs, ventilators and monitors
• Equipment placement between wards and treatment areas
• Equipment for monitoring that has entered maintenance.
• Performing more frequent inventories
• Finding equipment that is not being used before it’s bought.
• Making and keeping movement and maintenance records

Improved visibility can also help to avoid unnecessary purchases due to equipment that is not always easily available.

Construction Applications

For companies in active construction sites, RFID can be used to keep their tools and equipment in order, even when they are constantly moving.

Drills, generators, power tools, special equipment, storage containers, and other valuable items can all be tagged. Check-ins and check-outs can be documented through the use of readers at strategic locations such as tool cribs, entrances, etc.

This can be beneficial for businesses:

• Minimize misplaced and unauthorized equipment
• Determine who used a tool last!
• Conduct quicker tool inventories.
• Find equipment at several locations
• Maintain and/or calibrate tracks.
• Minimize delays in the project due to unavailable tools

Rugged RFID tags are ideal for use in dusty or wet environments, as well as those with metal surfaces, impacts, or grease. Talk to an expert who can guide you through RFID for inventory management and follow their leads.

Tips for a Successful RFID program

Avoid attempting to tag all objects at once. Begin with high-value assets, assets that are moved regularly, assets that are easily lost, and operationally critical assets.

Additional tips include:

1. Establish an asset database centrally prior to deployment.
2. Select tags that are suitable for the environment.
3. Place readers at natural movement areas.
4. Integrate RFID information with maintenance or inventory systems.
5. Provide staff training in check-in and check-out.
6. Analyze loss data frequently to find common loss patterns.
7. Test the system in one department or jobsite before expanding.

Smart equipment management is not just what it sounds like; it’s about knowing where an asset is. It’s about saving the time spent searching, the need for replacement purchases, the accountability, and having the equipment available on call when it is required. From a hospital setting, such as a ventilator, to a construction job site, where power tools may be used, RFID can make equipment monitoring more visible and automated.