Xerafy, C-Logistics And Holland 1916 Introduce Rugged Sling Tag For Oil And Gas Industry Applications

Passive UHF tags on rigging equipment will provide real-time asset tracking in extreme environments

Xerafy, Ltd, a global supplier of RFID metal tags, and Holland 1916, a manufacturer of rugged identification products, have teamed with C-Logistics LLC, part of the Edison Chouest Offshore family of companies and a leader in integrated supply chain solutions for the oil and gas industry, to develop a new ruggedized RFID solution for metal slings and rigging equipment. The solution supports logistics and asset tracking applications in the oil and gas industry.

The industry-first passive UHF RFID solution combines a Xerafy Versa Trak small form factor on-metal RFID tag with a synthetic housing from Holland 1916. The housing is an ultra-high molecular weight (UHMW) plastic that is extremely resistant to shock and abrasion. The solution is also intrinsically safe, an important concern in the oil and gas industry.

“C-Logistics intends to continue to provide safe and accurate logistics services to the oil and gas industry, through the incorporation of new technologies,” said Dane Vizier, C-Logistics’ general manager. “Deploying these new RFID tags will allow us to enhance the abilities of our Triton software system. Our clients and their vendors will benefit from the increased automation, accuracy and safety compliance.”

By securing the RFID tags to the slings and rigging, the technology not only provides real-time tracking, but also provides complete lifecycle tracking, including data on all inspections and maintenance, as well as confirmation of end-of-life processes when the slings are retired.

Because the solution is based on passive, ISO 18000-6/EPCglobal Gen 2-standard UHF RFID technology, end users can take advantage of a much longer read range than is possible with high frequency (HF) solutions, and have the ability to read large numbers of tags at once. RFID tags can be read or written to at distances of up to several feet, while in motion, in any orientation, through intervening objects, and without the need for line-of-sight.

Xerafy, Holland 1916 and C-Logistics worked together closely to ensure the performance of the solution, as well as its affordability. “Attempts to develop an RFID-based solution have traditionally been cost-prohibitive to deploy on a wide scale,” said Xerafy CEO Dennis Khoo. “Xerafy, C-Logistics and Holland 1916 worked diligently to ensure that the new sling tags would not only be reliable and accurate, but also cost-effective.”

Testing was completed in Q1, and C-Logistics plans to roll out the new tags with its customers later this year.