EMERGING TRENDS IN MATERIAL MANAGEMENT- RFID

RFID (RADIO FREQUENCY IDENTIFICATION) FACILITATED CONSTRUCTION

MATERIAL MANAGEMENT

ABSTRACT: Due to the complex and dynamic nature of the construction industry,
construction material management faces many unique challenges from material
planning, ordering, receiving and storing, handling and distribution, site usage and
monitoring. Poor material management has been identified as a major source for
low construction productivity, cost overrun and delay. Although many factors
contribute to the problems of material management, the lack of active, accurate
and integrated information flow from material planning, inventory to site use and
monitoring is the major contributor. However, it is difficult to obtain such
accurate information actively due to the nature of the industry, particularly for
large or material intensive projects such as oil or water pipe-laying projects. A
Radio Frequency Identification system (RFID) facilitated construction material
management system has been developed to tackle this problem. This latest
technology helps the project team to collect material storage and usage in an
active and accurate way, and further to facilitate the information flow through
the construction material management process with focus on the dynamic
material planning, ordering and monitoring. The developed system is being
implemented in a water-supply project.

INTRODUCTION:

In recent years, automatic identifications have become popular in services,

purchasing and distribution logistics, manufacturing and material flow systems.
Automatic identifications provide information about people, animals, goods and
products in transit. The traditional barcode labels are being found to be
inadequate in many cases (e.g. low storage capacity and cannot be
reprogrammed). The technically optimal solution would be the storage of data in
a silicon chip (e.g. the smart card based upon a contact field). However, the
mechanical contact used in the smart card is often impractical. A contactless
transfer of data between the data-carrying device and its reader is far more
flexible. The Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology pro-vides solution
to such problems.
 RFID offers wireless communication between the tags and readers with
non line-of-sight readability, which eliminates manual data collection and
introduces the potential for automated identity process. The technology offers
some unique advantages over the traditional bar-code or smart card such as the
flexible contactless identification range, multiple products identification,
expressive read reliability and durability, massive data storage, high level of data
security. RFID technology is becoming popular in the areas of transportation,
human identification, security, purchasing and distribution logistics,
manufacturing and material flow systems.
Given its particular advantages, several research initiatives have been developed
to adopt RFID in the construction industry such as material tracking system tools
and equipment tracking system, security, service and maintenance. RFID has been
proven as a promising technology for enhancing construction operations. On the
other hand, most of the applications in construction over-exaggerate the strength
of the technology whilst ignoring the nature and specific problems of the industry
(Deloitte 2004).

Material management includes the process of planning, inventory control,

receiving and storing, material handling, physical distribution, and related
information from the point of origin to point of consumption for the purpose of
conforming to customer requirements. It has been estimated that a 2% saving in
materials costs could in-crease profits by 14.6% (Chadwick 1982). On the other
hand, inappropriate material management and the consequent problems (e.g.
shortage of important materials, in-accessibility of items or excessive time) are a
main cause of low productivity, cost overruns and delay in construction. A major
difficulty of construction material management is the complex and dynamic
process of material planning, ordering to the site monitoring and re-planning.
There is a lack of integrated material information flow facilitated by the active
material planning and monitoring system.

RFID TECHNOLOGY.

According to RFID journal (www.rfidjournal.com), RFID generally is a generic term

for technologies that use radio waves to automatically identify a person, object,
or other information. There are three major components of RFID, the reader, the
tag and the antenna. The antenna enables the chip to transmit the identification
information to a reader. The reader generates or listens to and converts the radio
waves reflected back from the tag into digital in-formation that can then be
passed on to computers that can make use of it. Depends on whether the tags are
internally powered, the RFID is classified as active and passive tags. Active tags
are powered by an internal battery and are typically read/write. Passive RFID tags
operate without a separate external power source and obtain operating power
generated from the reader. They are consequently much lighter than active tags,
less expensive, and offer a virtually unlimited operational lifetime. How-ever they
have shorter read ranges than active tags and require a higher-powered reader.
RFID is a fast and reliable means of automatically identifying and logging just
about anything, including retail items, vehicles, documents, people, components,
library books and works of art. As it makes use of radio waves, there is no need
for “line of sight” reading of information, which is one of the limitations
associated with barcode systems. It means RFID tags can be embedded in
packaging or, in some cases, in the goods them-selves. In addition, RFID tags are
reusable, and can with-stand harsh environments. Over the past five years the IT
industry has seen a surge towards the development of an affordable RFID tag.
Such developments have lead to larger reading ranges, greater memory capacity,
and faster processing of radio frequency operating systems. The RFID market is
one of the fastest growing sectors in IT areas. RFID is getting popular in much
wide areas such as public transport.
During the past few years, several research projects have been conducted to
explore the possibility to adopt RFID technology to tackle the construction
problems. For ex-ample,

1. Material tracking system: Identification and tracking technologies have

the potential to enable the construction industry to seamlessly integrate work
processes at the job-sites. Knowledge of this information in a quick and accurate
fashion, would dramatically improve productivity and reliability. Individual objects
scheduled for arrival on the construction site are tagged at the fabricators using
RFID transponders. The encoded information is scanned wirelessly relayed to a
remote project database. A database query returns graphical representations, or
virtual reality mark-up language models of scanned objects and additional
information as appropriate. These models, coupled with user-friendly web
browsing software, guide field workers through the acquisition of key fiducially
points using scanning devices integrated with GPS technology to determine an
object's position and orientation.
 2. Tools and Equipments: The construction tool industry has been using
embedded systems such as RFID technology to track tool usage and to prevent
tool mishandling and wrongful installation. Al-though the construction industry
is generally not as high tech as the manufacturing industry, tools and
equipment cost can be critical to complete projects within estimated budgets.
Interest in tool-tracking technologies is on the upswing because it holds the
potential for reduced expenditures and tighter job costing.
3. Security, service and maintenance: Workers, operators, and equipment
tagged with RFID can record and make certain proper usage and handling of
equipment, materials, and documents. These systems will ensure that only
qualified operators can access to the restricted equipment, reducing the
likelihood of misuse and accidents. Besides tracking objects and people within
the jobsite, it would also secure the site from unauthorized people and
vehicles. RFID can be a helpful record-keeping tool for high-value assets and
equipment service logs. Applications would allow mechanics in the service bay
to read and write to the tags, reducing the amount of paperwork related to
warranties and time-consuming maintenance logs.
4. Document control for material management: The construction industry
is an industry that is very dependent upon paper for transmittals of shop
drawings, plans and specifications, change orders and billing, and re-quests for
information. Although the Internet has al-lowed the use of e-mailing
documentation there is still a mailed copy sent to other players involved
(contractors, architects, engineers, owners, etc.). When the costs of RFID
technology is more reasonable, applications that embed tags into construction
documents, files, or file folders would significantly reduce the amount of time
and money spent managing files, and until the industry is paperless there will
always be a way to more efficiently manage documents.

RFID- FACILITATED MATERIAL MONITORING SYSTEM

The proposed RFID-facilitated material management sys-tem aims to tackle the

dynamic nature of construction material management by integrating the
information flow among design and material planning team, warehouse, site
office, construction site and material monitoring staffs. The integration is
achieved with the support of RFID technologies which help to collect and monitor
the material storage, usage, change in a more active and accurate way. Unlike the
application of traditional bar code in facilitating material inventory, the system
focuses on the improvement of the material management information flow and
actively data collection and monitoring. It tar-gets on the seamless integration of
the application of new technology with classic construction material management
theories and practices. There are four components of the system: RFID planning
aid, RFID inventory support, RFID monitoring assistant, and RFID maintenance
sup-port Started by obtaining material from the design or Bill of Quantities (BOQ),
the system considers and manages the process of:

1. Material planning and the alignment between material planning and

scheduling.
2. Inquiries and purchase orders for materials.
3. Expediting, recording and control material deliveries.
4. Inventory/Stock control management.
5. Material tracking and monitoring on site.
6. Material changes and re-planning or ordering.

RFID facilitated material planning, monitoring and control.

1. Material planning: Project staffs identify all the key materials or long-delivery
materials out of the project design. This is conducted in the early stage of
project buyout stage. All these key materials are numbered and given unique
IDs; these IDs, names, usage, design drawing number, manufacturer, together
 with the scheduled site and data are input into a key material database or
highlighted in the general material data-base.
2. Material store: After the materials are delivered to the store, they are labeled
and attached with RFID tags. Relevant information (e.g. ID, manufacturer,
drawing no. date into store, scheduled date to install, site to be installed,
person in charge, etc.) about the key material are contained into the RFID
tags and the store data-base.
3. Material monitoring and control: The RFID tags, readers and other
supporting facilities provide an effective approach to track the material
delivery, storage on site, and installation. Related project staff will be able to
obtain the material information in a live or nearly live approach. Since the key
materials have al-ready been identified in drawing, planning and schedule,
the project staff can make a quick comparison and analysis to decide whether
to make another order of materials or to change the initial material plan.

Advantages of RFID Technology

RFID technology has a number of advantages.

 RFID tags are very simple to install/inject inside the body of animals, thus
helping to keep a track on them. This is useful in animal husbandry and on
poultry farms. The installed RFID tags give information about the age,
vaccinations and health of the animals.
 RFID technology is better than bar codes as it cannot be easily replicated
and therefore, it increases the security of the product.
 Supply chain management forms the major part of retail business and RFID
systems play a key role by managing updates of stocks, transportation and
logistics of the product.
 Barcode scanners have repeatedly failed in providing security to gems and
jewelries in shops. But nowadays, RFID tags are placed inside jewelry items
and an alarm is installed at the exit doors.
 The RFID tags can store data up to 2 KB whereas; the bar code has the
ability to read just 10-12 digits.
Disadvantages of RFID Technology

the RFID technology, though very beneficial, is expensive to install. Small and
medium scale enterprises find it costly to use it in their firms and offices.

 It is difficult for an RFID reader to read the information in case of RFID tags
installed in liquids and metal products. The problem is that the liquid and
metal surfaces tend to reflect the radio waves, which makes the tags
unreadable. The tags have to be placed in various alignments and angles for
taking proper reading. This is a tedious task when the work involves big
firms.
 Interference has been observed if devices such as forklifts and walkie-
talkies are in the vicinity of the distribution centers. The presence of mobile
phone towers has been found to interfere with RFID radio waves. Wal-
Mart, the retail sector giant, has installed billions of RFID tags in their
products throughout the world and they have encountered such problems.
 The USA and Europe, for instance, have different range of frequencies that
allow RFID tags to function. This makes it mandatory for international
shipping companies and other organizations to be aware of the working
pattern of other nations also, which can be very time-consuming.
 RFID technology has been referred to as invasive technology. Consumers
are apprehensive about their privacy when they purchase products with
RFID tags. Once the radio chips are installed in the product, the customer
can be tracked and his personal information can be collected by the RFID
reader. However, many stores have a facility that deactivates the RFID tags
after the product has been purchased.

RFID technology can be the next tool for success and management of various
businesses. With more research, the flaws and limitations of this technology can
be removed. This will make RFID technology very useful for diverse sectors like
retail, transport and jewelry businesses.