The growing competition in the gas industry, demands a complete focus for gas cylinder suppliers to maintain their status. Two decades ago, the economic situation had been extremely tensed. The prices for standard gases got decreased affecting the problematic economy.
A fee was imposed on each gas cylinder. As a result, the consumers demanded transparent records of the costs of the cylinders.
Many gas suppliers consider the barcode technology for their cylinders. But is it really a permanent solution for eliminating all your tracking worries? The disadvantages of the barcode are quite visible. The technology, although available and having low installation charges have proved to be insufficient to the changing economic needs.
Barcode demands the purchase and maintenance of complicated printers and scanners. It has about 100 bit memory capacity only. They can be read only with a close glance. They are unable to resist the harsh industrial environment. They become unreadable in a short span of time as they are extremely sensitive towards dirt, oil and scratches.
In this scenario, the technology that has come up is a boon to the gas cylinder suppliers. The technology is RFID (Radio Frequency Distribution) which has become the biggest opportunity for electronic cylinder tracking. This advanced technology enables information to be written on a tag and read with a read/write device. RFID technology has become an unbeatable weapon for gas cylinder tracking, let’s evaluate how!
1. Can bear the Environmental Conditions: Since, RFID tags do not require a direct line of sight, they are placed in a safe, high impact resistant cover. As a result, they remain undamaged to the harsh industrial conditions and hazardous environment. The tag information is to be read and written through metal and sealed inside metal parts such as weapons to resist oil, mud and scratches. They have a long life and provide efficient tracking of the gas cylinders.
2. Provide Huge Memory Capacity: RFID enables the gas cylinder suppliers to have access to huge memory capacity on the tags. It can hold information from the product code, testing status and schedule, last filing date, ingredients of the cylinder and the customer code. The information can be rewritten, and updates are saved whenever required.
3. Ease with a Read/Write Device: RFID is a weapon that collects data using electronic tags. The data is stored for the purpose of identification using a wireless transmitter. One doesn’t have to spend on complicated printers and scanners for writing and reading purposes respectively. The read/write module allows inventory tracking.
4. Keeps Data Accurate and up to date: The organizations make an enormous investment in cylinders; hence recording the data becomes vital. The current systems do not fulfill these requirements. Each cylinder costs approximately $200 or more. These cylinders move across warehouses, customer’s site, dealers and factories. The product life-cycle becomes complex. The company needs to ensure that the cylinders are tagged and come back to their proper place in the right condition so that they don’t have to face unnecessary losses. The RFID-enabled management system monitors the cylinders’ movement. Errors in records can make the company lose their valuable assets. Industrial Gas Cylinder Management Solution provides accurate tracking of individual cylinders. It improves the productivity and profit of the organizations.
5. Render Absolute Transparency: When the cylinders are delivered they get registered, and the data is read out on their return. Due to this, a complete transparent control of the gas cylinders is developed, which is a facility for consumers and an accurate billing of accrued lease prices.
RFID system provides transparency for consumers to notice and choose whether they want to stick to the organization’s service or not. The RFID system controls each cylinder through the database; for instance, which cost location produced how much lease costs in a particular span of time. There is absolute transparency in the records which helps in the internal billing of the lease. The rental costs can then be decreased by controlling the long storage periods and limiting the cylinders in stock. It provides transparency of supply chain management by cutting out-of-stocks, shrinkage and duplicity.
6. Easily Upgraded to Bluetooth: RFID fulfills the current requirements of the gas industry for tracing and tracking of the cylinders. It comes with a rechargeable battery and Bluetooth connectivity. The cylinders easily get connected to the system. It collects data in a smart way and keeps the costs down.
Henceforth, the increased levels of traceability of gas cylinders give peace of mind to the suppliers and consumers. Industrial gas cylinder management solution having RFID system improves cylinder management, making it even easier to do business. It improves your internal cost management by increasing the reliability of the cache holdings. An improved handling of your assets’ inquiries saves time, money and effort. It monitors cylinder movement and maintain records of every cylinder that is stored in the warehouse or delivered at the consumer’s site. You can have the assurance that your cylinder holdings are an exact reflection of the assets belonging to you. RFID system has become necessary to employ in the complex supply chain of gas cylinders. It is truly an unbeatable weapon for gas cylinder tracing and tracking.