Utilizing Radio Frequency Identification on Precast Concrete Components – Supplier’s Perspective

Precast concrete material suppliers are responsible for the components that they manufacture from casting until up to 25 years after installation. To effectively manage the production and storage at a the production facility, to streamline the construction process and to quickly repair a component should there be a problem, information about components must be readily available and updated throughout the 25 year life cycle. Currently, suppliers use barcodes to track precast components and paper-based documents to store information about them. These approaches are time-consuming and error prone. Suppliers also face the problem of not finding the right information in a timely manner. This paper discusses the utilization of radio frequency identification technology (RFID) for tracking precast concrete components and their historical information from fabrication to post-construction. RFID is an automatic identification technology that uses memory chips attached/embedded to objects to transmit data about them. Our discussion revolves around one use case that we developed describing the current component tracking approach and the proposed approach utilization of RFID technology from a large-scale precast manufacturer/erector’s perspective. We conclude with an assessment of benefits and limitations of the proposed utilization of RFID system for tracking precast concrete materials.