Idencia v1.3: Better Product Tracking for Concrete and Steel

Last week we announced the release of Idencia v1.3, making product tracking for concrete and steel structures even easier.  Our customers and prospects asked us to enable the system to track information about products according to job.  We did that.  They also wanted to be able to use Idencia to track any kind of product.  We gave them that too.

Let me show you how simple it is to track information about the products you manufacture using Idencia v1.3:

1. Input Product Types

When you subscribe to Idencia, we work with your administrator to set up your account on our server.  The first thing we do is input information about the type of products you want to track.  If you have a large database, you can import an Excel file with the items listed.

Going forward, you can also create new records for additional products manually.  The format that you use for initial set up is automatically re-created for manual entry, so a dialog box appears to ask for consistent information. 

2. Define Product Properties

Once your products are input, you then assign properties you want to record about each product.  These can be set as default (requiring no further input) or, if they are subject to change depending on the product being scanned, can be input during scanning. 

We have one prospect that has about 10 properties for each product they want to record; 8 are constant and 2 are filled in on a tablet when the product is scanned.  The 8 constant properties appear on every report about the products and the variable properties are offered in a menu of choices that are entered during scanning. 

3. Define Process

The “process” you define is the series of steps that you want to record about the manufacture of a product.  This can be as simple or as in-depth as you want.  The prospect I mentioned above is simply recording the products that they manufacture for a customer.  In this case, the process involved is just recording the 2 properties that vary from item to item.

Many of our customers use Idencia to record information for QC record-keeping.  In this case, they define a series of questions (related to QC) that must be answered during the manufacturing process .  The system requires that each must be answered before proceeding to the next question.  

4. Scan and Input

Once the system is set up, it is ready to be used for each product manufactured.  After the RFID tag is embedded in (or affixed to) the structure being manufactured, it is scanned.  The user then chooses the product being manufactured (according to the menu created during set up) and answers the questions that follow. 

There it is!  You now have a system that records any information that you want to save about any product you manufacture.  And, this can be organized according to job so you have a clear record of work done for each customer.

Idencia can currently be used to store an extensive amount of information about each product manufactured.  It can store designs (in pdf files), pictures and GPS location, among other features.  We have also designed it to be “process agnostic”, enabling users to record information about processes of their own design.  So, recording the quality assurance process is just the start.  Customers could, for instance, also use the system to record safety meetings by defining a custom process that asks questions about attendance, process and outcomes for each meeting. 

The essence of Idencia is that it replaces the laborious process of keeping paper records with an electronic process that saves time and improves accuracy with records specific to each product being manufactured.  Most important, you always know exactly where these records reside and can access them with a few clicks..

If you would like to learn more about Idencia, please download our product brochure below: