Overview
Wireless Equipment Monitoring and Control System (WEMACS) (2004-321)
Project Team:
- I.D. Systems
- General Dynamics NASSCO
- Ingalls Shipbuilding
- Portsmouth Naval Shipyard
- RLW, Inc.
- Penn State Applied Research Laboratory
August 2003 - November 2004
NSRP ASE Investment: $1.1M
Industry Investment: $2.27M
Objective:
Integrate existing commercial systems and newly developed technologies to provide a comprehensive solution for the monitoring, control and utilization analysis of shipyard material handling equipment.
Summary:
Purchasing, maintaining and operating forklifts alone can be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars annually. More sophisticated material handling equipment, such as large cranes or lumber carriers, can be up to 10 times more. These costs do not include the price paid for equipment, downtime, or for the loss of manpower or resources due to a safety incident. Two private sector shipyards teamed with a naval shipyard and two technology providers to develop, integrate and implement advanced material handling equipment monitoring systems for the U.S. shipyard environment. The WEMACS project expanded on I.D. Systems’ existing baseline wireless system installation at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. It developed a comprehensive solution for the extensive monitoring, control and utilization analysis of shipyard material handling equipment (forklifts, straddle trucks, cranes and similar vehicles). The resultant system was designed to monitor equipment location, electronically restrict access to qualified operators, analyze equipment usage, enable wireless transmission of work orders and monitor certain vital equipment functions. Benefits include reduction of fleet maintenance costs, improved reliability and availability of equipment, enhanced equipment safety and security, and remote monitoring of machinery health functions.
In September 2004, I.D. Systems completed the WEMACS hardware installation at GD NASSCO, NGSS Ingalls Operations and Portsmouth Naval Shipyards, including the integration of RLW, Inc.’s Crane Manager, a predictive, condition-based maintenance (CBM) alert system on selected cranes at the shipyards. Additionally, the I.D. Systems’ Wired Asset Net fleet management system was launched into operation at the three shipyards, providing immediate, positive benefits from the extensive array of data assets now available to manage the fleets of material handling equipment.
Key Deliverables:
Request Final Report from NSRP – Limited Distribution authorized to the U.S. shipbuilding and repair industry and NSRP ASE Program representatives
Point of Contact:
Greg Smith, I.D. Systems