Industrial applications are extremely challenging due to difficult conditions and critical requirements. Industries such as oil & gas, chemicals, petrochemicals, discreet and process manufacturing, automotive, construction, and hazardous materials face complex challenges in terms of operational bottlenecks, inefficiency, and improper worker safety environments. A real time location system (RTLS) solution can provide the right visibility, operational efficiency, and work place safety. An RTLS solution is capable of providing intelligence on the location of various assets, forklifts, process updates, employee whereabouts, and visibility in the supply chain, thereby removing bottlenecks, reducing hours wasted, preventing loss of items, and improving industrial safety.
Industrial safety is becoming increasingly important globally, with governments and regulatory bodies making stricter safety norms, which the companies need to comply with. During the times of emergency situation, manual tracking and accountability of personnel are highly inaccurate. Manual process is also time-consuming and it is not possible to act urgently in the industrial sites which are typically large areas with heavy workforce. In order to avoid such situations, it is essential that industries, especially the ones that are more prone to accidents, adopt an advanced personnel monitoring and personnel safety solution. An RTLS solution can prove to be extremely beneficial in such solutions. RTLS is able to track and locate the employees during emergency situations, and also notify the business stakeholders with real-time alerts on employee whereabouts, employees in distress, and also about employees in transit. Employees are also provided wayfinding services with the help of RTLS solutions, which ensure faster and smooth evacuation by allowing workers to call for help, get located, and then receive acknowledgement that help is on the way. Forklifts are also tracked and the forklift and other vehicle route management is done with the help of RTLS solution, which notifies the workers about any forklift or vehicle in the vicinity and thus helps in avoiding fatal accidents.
As industrial applications are spread across vast areas, both indoor and outdoor, it is difficult for organizations to keep track of all high value assets and ensure asset safety. Instances of thefts and misplacing of items are quite common in the industrial set-ups and these cause heavy monetary losses. In the assembly line, unavailability of required assets or items can stall the production process and cause heavy downtime. Hence it becomes important for industrial organizations to deploy RTLS solutions that can offer complete visibility around various assets, items, and production process, thereby saving crucial hours and preventing losses.
Inventory tracking is another challenging task for industrial companies, as a large number of inventories are spread across warehouses, yards, and in transit. Logistics & supply chain is also critical for industrial sector. RTLS solutions help with yard management, warehouse management, and logistics & supply chain management and are highly accurate even in difficult environments, tracking and locating high volume of items and assets.
Construction is a high risk sector and involves complex job sites that increase the chances of accidents, making it dangerous for construction workers as well as companies. The industry is under constant pressure to create more value for customers and improve worker safety. Internet of Things (IoT) based RTLS can be the perfect technology to achieve that. IoT based RTLS can track people and objects remotely and make the construction sites smart with real-time connectivity and intel, which site managers can access to in real-time and take decisions accordingly.
In case of customers visiting sites, an IoT based RTLS solution can send all the relevant information to customers on their smartphones with the help of apps. Such app based relay of information makes the information specific to a project and locations quite engaging and informative.
