Berliner Wasserbetriebe
Berliner Wasserbetriebe
Berliner Wasserbetriebe uses RFID to identify 60,000 assets
Berliner Wasserbetriebe is one of the largest water supply and sewerage companies in Germany. With a total of nine water works, the company supplies around 3.5 million residents in the capital city and the surrounding area with drinking water. Six wastewater treatment plants ensure the environmentally sound cleaning of waste water for around 3.9 million people. As one of the city’s biggest investors, Berliner Wasserbetriebe also plays an important role in strengthening Berlin’s economic power.
The Challenge:
- Berliner Wasserbetriebe, one of the largest water supply and sewerage companies in Germany sought to replace its manual, error prone inventory taking process to an automated process
- Up until 2007, 120 employees responsible for the administration and inventory taking of 60,000 movable assets (ranging from individual pumps to technologically complex plant sections) situated on 300 sites in the Berlin-Brandenburg area used printed checklists to verify the completeness of components at a site. The data stored in the SAP system was manually entered.
- The new system needed to meet all the criteria defined by Berliner Wasserbetriebe:
- Ruggedness and the ability to operate faultlessly in the rough environment found in treatment plants
- Ease of use
- Integration with SAP
The Solution:
- 60,000 assets are identified with transponders (RFID = Radio Frequency Identification). The small radio frequency chips with mini antennas store the identification numbers of the respective components.
- 85 WORKABOUT PRO handheld computers are used for data capture; assets from orders, planned constructions and sales of assets can be recorded directly into the SAP system without delay.
The Benefits:
- Automatic recording of assets and their locations via RFID increased productivity of employees in plant management and ensures current data.
- The WORKABOUT PRO handhelds are based on ISO-compliant 13.56 megahertz technology, the international standard for RFID. This guarantees high investment security for Berliner Wasserbetriebe and enables future optimization of other business processes with radio identification
