Cal Poly Sponsored Project at PG&E Results in Increased Inventory Accuracy
Sirit Inc., a global provider of radio frequency identification (“RFID”) technology, today announced that its INfinity 510 (“IN510”) reader and RSI-647 Corkscrew RFID tags have been selected for deployment at Pacific Gas & Electric’s (“PG&E”) Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant, Avila Beach, California.
The Sirit IN510 readers and RFID tags solution, installed by Cal Poly Global Automated Identification Technology Center (PolyGAIT), have been deployed in a project to identify and locate critical spare parts in a massive warehouse at Diablo Canyon. Accurate availability for the $65 million of inventory at Diablo Canyon is essential for both effective operations and maintenance of the power plant. In addition, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission requires a complete physical count of Diablo Canyon’s inventory every two years.
Following the RFID implementation, spare parts are tagged with Sirit’s Corkscrew RFID tags upon receipt at the facility. The tags are then read by Sirit’s IN510 readers, installed at specified locations, providing visibility into which material or items are located within a precise location range. While employees perform their regular picking functions, the RFID system transmits the material and location range to Diablo’s SAP computer system. The transmitted data is then reviewed for accuracy with exceptions audited and corrected. In addition to the process improvements, the RFID system is projected to save PG&E the cost of one full-time employee, while reducing the burden of challenging physical inventory counts.
"The Sirit RFID tags and readers are exceeding our expected read performance targets,” said Del Ritchie, Supply Chain Manager, Diablo Canyon Power Plant. “Our RFID system is capturing the data we need to ensure accurate inventory for our nuclear power plant and we have been able to reduce inventory processing costs by 60%."
Before implementing the system, the PolyGAIT team conducted an extensive comparative evaluation of twenty different RFID tags types and five different RFID readers. Following this evaluation the PolyGAIT team selected Sirit’s IN510 reader and Corkscrew design tag for the Diablo Canyon implementation due to their exceptional performance over the competitors’ products.
“The results of the PolyGAIT testing continues to validate the superior performance and functionality that the Sirit solution offers,” said Norbert Dawalibi, President and CEO, Sirit Inc. “We look forward to continued collaboration with Cal Poly’s group in future deployments.”
“The Diablo Canyon project is our largest undertaking to date,” says Tali Freed, Associate Professor of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering and PolyGAIT Director. “The project has evolved from an academic simulation into one that incorporates design, experimentation, development, implementation, testing and on-the-job training.” Lawrence Rinzel, Freed’s associate and PolyGAIT’s Interim Director adds “The support Sirit has provided, along with the IN510 reader’s capabilities, made the deployment of the RFID readers and tags a straightforward process.”
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