Oil and Gas RFID Software
We are all pretty familiar with RFID technology, as most big ticket items we see at the store are protected by them. When it comes to the oil and gas industry, the uptake has been much lower, which is surprising when you think about how much more they stand to lose. If a pipe goes missing, or even worse, doesn’t get needed repairs because nobody could find it, the stakes are upwards of thousands and millions of dollars.
In a recent posting about why oil and gas needs RFID technology, Oil and Gas IQ said that RFID has been around, “since World War II, where work on the first radar systems spawned the use of passive RFID systems to distinguish friendly from enemy fighters in the skies over war-torn Europe”. Although the applications for oil and gas are not quite as life and death, this technology can be invaluable in the management of assets out in the field. Says one of Entrance’s clients, “For excess pipe left over in inventory, loss of identification means a 90% loss in that pipe’s value”.
Particularly given the fact that RFID technology is increasingly unobtrusive and cost effective, it stands to reason that many O&G companies should consider this time tested solution as a viable option. At Entrance, we’ve proven the technological viability of RFID as an automated tracking technology for Oil and Gas. In fact, beyond technical viability, it’s become an industry driver.
Is RFID technology right for you?
Perhaps you have been looking at this technology, or maybe you are concerned about making a big investment in something new. There are a lot of good reasons to consider RFID, however. The biggest one is for inventory tracking. This is normally a very time intensive, manual process. With the help of RFID enabled technology, a real-time automated inventory becomes possible.
Envision a team working to load pipe onto a truck for transport. As they load each piece, the computer in the operator’s cab takes its’ best guess at which pipe has been loaded, and logs this in the computer. No writing things down by hand, no scanning barcodes, and no lag in data delivery because this information is automatically sent to the database. This streamlining helps improves accuracy and maximizes resources, not to mention creating a detailed history of each and every pipe that’s invaluable for regulatory reporting.
Entrance specializes in creating custom software that can make your business more efficient and accurate. If your business plan includes incorporating RFID technology into your processes, let our deep expertise in software and the oil and gas industry help protect your valuable assets. Read more about how we helped our client, TG Mercer, create an application that monitors, manages and tracks all of their pipelines in real-time here.