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Australian Energy Producers Journal Australian Energy Producers Journal Society
Journal of Australian Energy Producers
RESEARCH ARTICLE (Non peer reviewed)

The impact of RFID on the supply chain for engineering shutdowns

Maria Lantu
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Ajilon.

The APPEA Journal 55(2) 411-411 https://doi.org/10.1071/AJ14046
Published: 2015

Abstract

Shutdown activity is heavily reliant on supply chain functions, yet planning is frequently based on incorrect or incomplete information. The flow of materials and equipment is critical to preserving the schedule and budget; however, in most projects, the location of critical materials is manually tracked using spreadsheets or relies on limited enterprise resource planning (ERP) system functionality. This creates a number of problems, as there is no automated or accurate method of locating or ensuring material is available after it has left the manufacturer/supply base and is issued for installation; for example:

  1. Recent analysis showed 50–70% of materials are subject to some type of waste (rework, wait time, transport and over processing).

  2. Additional resources are required to manage constantly changing shutdown schedules and chase up material locations for job-card staging.

  3. Materials expedite costs for a four-week shutdown in a remote area can exceed up to $250,000 a week.

  4. Up to 30% of materials sent for a shutdown can be returned to inventory, which increases transport and labour costs.

This extended abstract outlines the use of radio frequency identification (RFID) technology and lean supply chain techniques for improving plant shutdown performance, following two major Brownfield engineering projects that used technology innovations, such as active RFID tags, cloud software, solar energy, GPS, 3G/wireless network and mobile devices.

RFID real-time location material tracking and LEAN principles were applied to critical materials to remove waste from shutdown processes, protect the integrity of the shutdown plan and help reduce costs by up to 14%.

Maria Lantu graduated as an electrical engineer from the Institut of Teknologi Bandung, Indonesia, in 1994. She then obtained her PhD in Information Technology at the University of South Australia in 1999. An IT professional with a passion for business improvement, Maria is a consulting principal for oil and gas at Ajilon Australia. A certified project management professional by the Project Management Institute (PMI) and a holder of a Lean Six Sigma black-belt, Maria is a member of many organisations including AIM and the Supply Chain Council (now merged with APICS). Her recent contribution to the oil and gas community was as a speaker and chair of the roundtable for the New Generation Oil and Gas Summit in Cairns, November 10–13, 2014.


References

Palmer, D., 2007—The what, why, how of wrench time? Accessed 9 October 2015. <http://www.reliableplant.com/Read/4722/wrench-time>.