RFID: A Concrete Position in Construction
From construction companies to corporate owners, project members are beginning to use radio frequency identification tags and readers throughout the construction lifecycle.
Putting RFID (radio frequency identification) tags and readers into concrete, piping, tools, or vehicles to track where the item is in the construction process may seem a bit advanced, but the truth is the construction industry is using these “smart chips” for practical purposes.
The most common uses of RFID currently include tracking materials en route to the jobsite and locating assets.
However, the conundrum facing mainstream adoption of RFID in construction is the lack of complete cooperation from all parties involved on a project. Francis Rabuck, director of realtime asset lab, Bentley Systems, www.bentleysystems.com, Exton, Pa., is involved in the Smart Chips project with FIATECH, www.fiatech.org, Austin, Texas. This project studies the role of RFID technology, or as FIATECH terms them, “smart chips,” in all aspects of construction. It is something he believes can make a big difference in the industry. However, he warns RFID will not advance in the construction industry and contractors shouldn’t expect any big improvements or “big wins” if cooperation from others in the lifecycle is not achieved.
“A big win now is addressing the hard part, and that is connecting the suppliers and the construction company and even ultimately the owner/operator so when you walk away that building still has tags attached to it and embedded into devices,” says Rabuck.
According to Rabuck, suppliers are already jumping on board with the technology and adopting it on the frontend. Now it is time for contractors to take a look at the advances RFID has made just in the past year and ask, what is in this for me?
A Chain Reaction
In some instances, construction is moving toward pre-fabrication—meaning pieces of a facility are built at a plant and shipped to a jobsite. With this shift comes a need to better track pieces of construction—steel, concrete, and other jobsite elements—throughout the supply chain. This is where RFID comes into the equation.
Intl. Coding Technologies (ICT), www.ictrfid.com, Beverly, Mass., develops RFID solutions. Its Cast-A-Code product is an RFID chip that can be put into concrete pieces, according to Tom Tilson, CEO, ICT.
“We can cast an RFID chip right into the concrete, but it is flush with the surface,” says Tilson.
Tilson adds the company doesn’t write any information to the Cast-A-Code product, as it serves as more of a license plate, meaning it would only have a serial number to track where the tag is located in the construction process from pre-fabrication through to completed project.
Robuck agrees with the license plate concept, saying, “Today you really want to tell people it is like a license plate. You just want to put a number on, and then you take that number and you look in the DMV (Dept. of Motor Vehicles) equivalent and find out when it was received when it was last touched where it is at etc. Too often people start to want to put things on the tag.”
Robuck continues, saying sometimes contractors want to store dates, times, and other project information on the tag, but advises contractors avoid this, as it is not efficient or cost effective. Instead, contractors should store that information in a piece of software.
FIATECH is making strides to clear the air when it comes to RFID in the construction supply chain. It is in the process of producing a resource guide, which it is calling a “cookbook,” to highlight guidelines for everything contractors need to know about RFID technology as it relates to the construction industry. The first volume of the “cookbook” will focus on this need to manage the supply chain, while subsequent volumes will focus on other applications.
Managing the supply chain using RFID can be crucial to saving time, improving quality, and planning accordingly—especially on large projects like the new Meadowlands Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J.
Skanska USA Building Inc., www.usa.skanska.com, Parsippany, N.J., is contracted to design and build the $998 million, 1.9 million-sq.ft. open-air sports stadium, which will be home to two professional football teams. The project began in 2007 and is scheduled for completion in 2010.
On previous projects Skanska was forced to manually manage the supply chain, requesting weekly or monthly reports from suppliers, according to David B. Campbell, vice president of SIMCon (Skanska integrated modeling for construction), Skanska USA Building. He says this manual process included Microsoft Excel spreadsheets, which were passed back and forth via email.
For this project Skanska has changed its supply-chain management process and is putting RFID tags into 3,200 large pre-cast pieces.
The supply-chain process starts at the pre-cast manufacturing plant and goes through four scan points. The first scan point is when the concrete has been manufactured and the RFID tag is put on. The second scan point is when the slab is ready to ship, meaning it has passed the quality-assurance process in the plant and is ready to leave the pre-cast fabrication facility.
The third scan point is when the pre-cast arrives at the jobsite. Here, the piece is checked again for quality. Finally, for the fourth scan point, right before the pre-cast is installed, Skanska scans the tag one more time to verify the piece has been put in place.
Throughout the process, the location of the pieces, quality of the pieces, and other information related to the pre-cast is easily accessible because the RFID-tagged concrete pieces send the information to a materials-tracking module within mobile software technology from Vela Systems, www.velasystems.com, Burlington, Mass.
In the case of the new Meadowlands stadium, Skanska isn’t the only one accessing RFID information using Vela’s technology. The software is accessible by everyone in the construction lifecycle.
Software as the Glue
Aside from evaluating the readers and tags involved with RFID, contractors need to learn the software required on the backend—essentially the glue that makes it all work.
With ICT’s Cast-A-Code, contractors and suppliers can track a piece of concrete from the pre-fabrication factory to customer delivery. The company offers software called TrackCon (concrete) to view the status on pieces of concrete with RFID tags.
“There are points within the production and manufacturing of these products that we can record data, and things like inventory and location, pick and ship validation so the right product gets on the truck,” says Tilson.
This software allows contractors to find out where a piece is and to sequence each piece of concrete based on its serial number.
In the case of the new Meadowlands stadium, Skanska isn’t the only one accessing RFID information using Vela Systems on mobile technology. Project managers, executives, and quality assurance/quality control personnel from the pre-cast fabricator are also involved.
And what about integrating with ERP (enterprise-resource planning) software? Rabuck says, “It is not possible this early to tell you how to connect into SAP or whatever your ERP systems is, but it is possible to say here are some major vendors that are producing infrastructure like Microsoft, Oracle, etc.”
Tools with Tags
Managing the supply chain is just one way RFID is being adopted in construction. Pick up your DEWALT drill, www.dewalt.com, Hampstead, Md. take a closer look at your Ford, www.fordworksolutions.com, Dearborn, Mich., truck these assets are being embedded with passive RFID tags, creating more common uses of the technology for the average contractor. While passive tags offer a good way to track assets, the tags bring their own set of issues to an RFID solution.
Users must understand the difference between passive and active RFID tags. Basically, the difference is most active RFID tags have a battery or other source for energy while passive tags do not, meaning passive tags will need to draw power from the readers.
Since passive tags need a strong signal from the reader, this limits RFID capabilities to a certain distance. However, while maintaining this distance can be a drawback, simple passive tags are more practical for embedding in tools and trucks because the technology is more cost efficient.
ThingMagic, www.thingmagic.com, Cambridge, Mass., has partnered with both DEWALT and Ford to embed its Mercury5e modules in trucks and construction equipment. About the size of a PC card, the Mercury5e is ThingMagic’s embedded RFID reader, which offers a range of read and write capabilities for a variety of devices.
Tool Link by DEWALT uses ThingMagic’s RFID reader within its high-end tools. The embedded technology helps contractors track assets and better manage inventory.
The Ford 2009 F-150, F-Series Super Duty pickups, and E-Series vans contain the embedded RFID tags. With this technology, contractors can keep an eye on the location of their trucks, which will reduce theft rates.
In some cases, the technology is already embedded in a Ford truck or DEWALT tool. However, contractors who want to use this technology for asset tracking when it is not already embedded can simply attach the RFID tag to any tool or truck, and use the Tool Link system to scan the item. The system is then able to identify and track the item.
While this technology is passive RFID, there are several ways to use active and passive RFID.
“Today, there isn’t a standard in active RFID,” says Rabuck. “It is multiple technologies. There are multiple approaches. Often times, there are combined approaches where they combine GPS (global positioning system) and active RFID tags or GPS and passive RFID tags.”
As Rabuck points out, some technology providers are taking RFID a bit further than just tags and readers and are combining GPS with RFID.
For example, The Xtreme Tracker 1 (XT1) is a fleet management solution designed to ensure construction equipment, including rental fleets, is tracked. Cinterion Wireless Modules, www.cinterion.com, Munich, Germany, is supplying two of its modules to Xtreme Tracker LLC, www.xtreme-tracker.com, Marion, Ky.
Within the module is realtime GPS, a SmartStart ignition system—which allows only authorized personnel to access equipment and replaces an existing ignition in a piece of equipment—and RFID card authentication, meaning not only will the XT1 help track where a fleet is, but the technology can also keep track of maintenance, equipment certification, and diagnostic information.
With the XTI, users can manage the fleet from a computer or mobile device, according to Xtreme Tracker. The product gives rental companies access to detailed information about the fleet.
According to Kris Carlson, vice president and chief information officer, Xtreme Tracker, while this product features several advanced technologies, the RFID card authentication gives contractors the ability to use a key or card login in the field. Using this RFID technology, rental companies can rent equipment to multiple users in one location, giving each user access to the equipment with an RFID card.
Looking Toward Tomorrow
Looking ahead, contractors can expect to see RFID expand beyond the construction process.
“I think in the long run we really want to look at this and see the owner/operator get some sort of advantage out of this too,” says Rabuck. “Because on the owner/operator side if I have major components, I can go read a tag and find out the detailed information stored on that.”
While there is definite potential for RFID in construction, some people question whether contractors will openly embrace this technology.
“As we look out over the next two or three years, we are going to follow the curve in what we call smart chips technology because there really is this collection of intelligent computing that is getting put on things,” says Rabuck. “In the construction industry, as we move up that curve, you will get more and more intelligence in the chips.”