Asset Tracking

Overview

SAIC delivers asset tracking solutions that complement and add value to our offerings around supply chain and logistics management and enterprise asset management. Asset Tracking (AT) uses automated identification tracking technology consisting of mobile computing, radio frequency identification (RFID), global positioning systems (GPS), and geographic information systems (GIS). SAIC's AT solution set helps automate business processes, enhances the ability to collect data at the source, reduces manual entry errors, confirms physical location of assets and acts as a catalyst to allow the dissemination of information to both internal and external business stakeholders. Automated identification and mobile technology can be used to extend the useful and safe life of assets and reduce supply chain management cost and complexity.

Technology Enablement

RFID and GPS work in similar ways except that RFID typically uses an under-the-roof antenna and receiver system to collect and disseminate radio tag-signals, whereas GPS radio signals are collected and managed by satellites or cell phone antennas. A GPS transmitter device can be configured to capture RFID tag signals and send them to remote systems.

GIS is typically used across the industry to map facility and static locations, pipelines, rail cars, tankers, and other moving assets. Maps help establish the spatial relationship of the asset with its surrounding topographical features, objects, accessibility situation, weather, and impending disaster-situations. Such spatially tied information is much more valuable, user-friendly and manageable compared with textual information of asset locations and its surroundings. Increasingly, the oil and gas and utility industries are coming to grasp the spatial nature of their businesses and realize value through better use and management of spatial information in their business operations. Additionally, there are new homeland security mandates on these industries to make hazardous material location information available on GIS maps, in real time.

SAIC has expertise in the breadth and depth of these technologies and is actively involved in the setting of industry standards.

Business Driven

The SAIC approach to asset tracking is business-driven rather than technology-led. We have deep experience managing and delivering end-to-end solutions, from conceptualization, design and build right through to embedding the new capabilities within the client organization. Asset tracking solutions fundamentally impact the way in which the operations staff perform their day-to-day tasks. From experience, front-end project loading, including early end user involvement in the validation of requirements, and user interface design, enhances change management and realization of project benefits. The approach also helps ensure "appropriate" use of technology by balancing the true business need for full automation and zero process errors with the technology complexity, maturity and cost.

There is a great variety of asset tracking services that SAIC offers, including facility personnel tracking, automated identification tracking, asset life cycle monitoring, GIS Integration, GPS and RFID real-time data capture, tracking remote assets and tracking mobile assets. However, there are two main solution areas that SAIC focuses on:

• Integrated asset monitoring
• RFID enabled supply chain management

Integrated Asset Monitoring

The objective of integrated asset monitoring is to assist operations, maintenance, reliability and integrity teams to achieve a step change improvement in plant reliability, efficiency and integrity through a combination of work process optimization and technology enablement. SAIC's integrated asset monitoring solution addresses the common business issues around effective dissemination of information about asset and plant reliability and efficiency that exist among shifts, functions, offshore and onshore and among business units. Time is at a premium in terms of work prioritization based on production threats, and there is a constant tension between the drive for production and the need for maintenance interventions. Choices are often made based on incomplete information. SAIC's integrated asset monitoring solution improves the decision-making cycle.

SAIC delivers the following solutions:

• RFID and mobile-enabled plant operator routine duties
• RFID and mobile-enabled plant defect capture
• RFID and mobile-enabled maintenance engineer work order execution
• Linking of operations, maintenance and engineering support with real-time and transactional asset information and reliability information into a single portal to improve visibility and communication of conditions

SAIC is able to leverage experience across multiple MRO/CMMS systems, logistics tools, data historians and multiple platforms to deliver integrated asset monitoring. SAIC is also experienced with MIMOSA and OPC standards to allow the development of enterprise-wide tools based on these standards and the implementation of equipment centers of excellence, even when standardization does not exist across systems of record.

The high-level benefits can be summarized as follows:

• Step change in the effectiveness of operations staff
• Reduced mean time between failure and mean time to fix
• Enabling of operator-driven reliability
• Improved defect capture and rectification
• Improved equipment life cycle history
• Improved cross-functional collaboration - speed and quality
• Breaking the silos created by functional and shift barriers

RFID-Enabled Supply Chain Management

Barcodes are being used within logistics and warehousing operations to automate transactions and avoid manual data input errors. SAIC has implemented some of the largest logistics tracking and supply chain management operations in the world, including the United States Department of Defense and the Department of the Navy. RFID is used either as a direct replacement for barcodes on large volume or value-adding items or in addition to barcodes. The advantage of RFID is that it is not a "line-of-sight" technology, and the RFID tag can therefore be read at a distance. RFID is able to consistently perform at an accuracy level that far exceeds human capability. It is supported as a way to enable Six Sigma levels of accuracy.

RFID technology provides visibility of products and goods movement through the supply chain from information providers to an appropriate set of information consumers. Advanced warning of deliveries helps improve the effectiveness of planning and supports the highest levels of supply chain efficiency. By RFID tagging at a container and cage level and sharing the physical scan events in real-time, containers and container contents can be tracked more easily as they move to the end user, and containers and cages can be tracked more easily as they return to their source.

Critically, there are benefits for all supply chain members of knowing what is where and having advanced visibility of inbound goods and containers. However, to provide this level of interaction between a container company, product provider, logistics company, and manufacturing or process facility, it is essential to have an agreed-upon set of standards for the RFID tags and readers, but even more important for the exchange of event information about physical movements.

SAIC delivers the following asset tracking supply chain solutions:

• Enhanced warehousing operations and materials tracking using both fixed and mobile readers
• RFID-enabled supply chain evaluation and strategy
• Pilot and fully integrated RFID-enabled supply chain implementation

The high-level benefits can be summarized as follows:

• Manufacturer or process operator benefits from improved stock visibility and accuracy
• Better predict and plan when goods are going to arrive and whether plans need to be adjusted
• Deck planning benefits and error reduction
• The container company benefits from improved asset visibility, improved work planning and increased utilization, resulting in higher accuracy and lower capital costs
• The product provider can improve reliability of plans
• The logistics company benefits from reduced administration, increased data accuracy and visibility
• Bottom line - customer satisfaction is increased