The precast concrete industry has embraced RFID tracking for its benefits of paperless QC, real-time inventory reporting and productivity management. Now construction contractors are starting to demand product tracking for their own benefit. With web hosting, the producer, contractor and project owner can easily create and share a timeline history of every product in each project. Our conversations with contractors reveal a few common themes about the productivity they see from the practice.
1. Supply chain integration
Following the tenets of lean construction, contractors recognize the productivity available from tightening integration with vendors. This extends from the simple to the complex:
- Coordinating numbering and nomenclature of products
- Improving just-in-time delivery
- Reducing delivery mistakes
- Production visibility
2. Lifecycle QC reporting
More contractors are using Building Information Modeling (BIM) to design projects and manage construction. Often the BIM model is provided to the project owner after completion so that they may have ready reference for subsequent maintenance purposes. RFID tracking systems are used to collect quality control information about each product during the course of manufacture and construction. This 'as-built' information can be input to the BIM model for the project owner's benefit. Today, this provides contractors with a competitive advantage in bidding. It will soon be required universally.
3. Laydown yard management
Inventory control is one of the contractor's biggest challenges. Finding products delivered to the laydown yard can consume significant time under a tight construction schedule. With the GPS tracking feature included in the system, the contractor can see the location of every product scheduled for the day's construction on a Google map of the laydown yard.
Today, contractors who are leading thinkers recognize the value of RFID tracking to their internal productivity and as a competitive advantage in serving their customers. In turn, they will place premium value on vendors that start product tracking from the time of manufacture.About Idencia
Our purpose at Idencia is to offer asset tracking solutions that improve productivity throughout the construction value chain. Our subscription offering applies RFID and bar code tracking to products from the time of manufacture through end-of-life. As a cloud-hosted product tracking system that is seamless between manufacturers, contractors and asset managers, Idencia adds information value to all, eliminates redundancy and saves time. If you would like to learn more, click below.
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