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SAN JOSE, Calif. — January 27, 2010 - Alco
Water Service, a 78 year-old investor owned water utility
based in Salinas has been using AssetPulse's RFID solution
for over 18 months to ensure security and compliance of
its well sites. AssetPulse, a leading provider of real-time
RFID
asset tracking solutions deployed its AssetGather
software packaged with active RFID readers and active
RFID tags
to monitor Alco's facilities, which are spread across
the city of Salinas. The tracking system gives Alco visibility
into activities and movements at its unmanned well sites.
Alco water service supplies water to about 9,000 connections (roughly 30,000 residents) in the east and north side of the city of Salinas, CA. They have nine well sites spread around a ten-mile radius of the city. Each site consists of a small pump house surrounded by a barbed fence. For security reasons it is critical to have a continuous record of activities that take place at each of the pump stations. A time-stamped trail of who enters a pump station, what time they leave it and how much time they spend there is to be maintained.
After assimilating Alco's requirements and discussing
the available options with Alco’s management, AssetPulse
recommended active
RFID technology for use by Alco at its facilities.
By proposing active RFID, AssetPulse ensured that the
infrastructure and deployment needs are minimized without
compromising on accuracy or efficiency. While deploying
the active readers, their optimal placement location was
selected after testing interference with Variable Frequency
Drives (VFDs) and other electronics at the pump stations.
433 Mhz Active RFID badges were provided to the personnel.
AssetGather RFID asset tracking software was installed
at Alco’s central server, which was networked to all the
sites. The reads from the active
RFID readers at various locations were collected,
processed and consolidated into the AssetGather system.
The web-based multi-location dashboard and reporting capabilities
provided categorized views by activity-type, location
and time-period. AssetGather reports also provided duration
of every activity at any location, along with start and
end timestamps. The ability to export these reports in
to a spreadsheet-friendly format meant that they could
be easily inter-operate with existing systems and processes
such as time
and attendance billing.
“We have been repeatedly seeing the benefits of the
RFID solution
from AssetPulse” said Tom Adcock, President
of Alco Water Service. "We have come to rely
on the system to provide us an accurate historical record
of critical information. The system has helped us effectively
meet compliance regulations and has given us the visibility
to improve our internal processes."
Apart from customizable reports, the AssetGather system also sends out alert notifications on configurable “out-of-normal” patterns of activities. For example, rules could be set in the system to notify when any activity is noticed at a station after late evenings, or on weekends. Apart from security reasons these alerts could also be useful to ensure business processes are followed. For example, regular alerts on weekends could mean increasing number of service requests, which is an indicator to allocate more standby resources on weekends.
“Complying to regulations is a continuous on-going
activity. Organizations such as Alco, which are committed
to following requisite practices, need to keep ensuring
that certain procedures are always carried out so that
their customers get the best service” said Sujatha
Bodapati, CEO of AssetPulse. "Having an automated
RFID system like AssetGather helps to do exactly that."
After seeing the immediate benefits of the active RFID system, Alco extended it to track its meters. Meters are frequently taken out of its premises to different sites. The system would indicate its current location and duration of usage at the site. In the near future, Alco is also considering tracking its bigger pieces of equipment and many of its field trucks within the same AssetGather system.
About
Alco Water Service
Alisal Water Corporation, dba Alco Water Service is an investor owned water utility located in Salinas, CA. Alco was established in 1932 and incorporated in California.
About
AssetPulse
AssetPulse is a San Jose, California based company focused exclusively on providing complete customizable RFID asset tracking solutions for various industries and use-cases. AssetPulse's solutions integrate seamlessly with fixed and mobile RFID readers using Passive, Semi-Passive and Active RFID, RTLS Technologies or bar-codes. For more information, please call (408) 872-3104 or visit www.assetpulse.com.
| AssetPulse and AssetGather are trademarks or registered trademarks of AssetPulse, LLC. All other company and product names mentioned may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated. |
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