Telkomsel, an Indonesian telecom operator, has launched an RFID solution for asset tracking.

The solution integrates more than 100 different asset management systems in the past, and automatically collects data through a handheld RFID reader at each site.

PakTio, Telkomsel's vice president of service management, said that since its launch, the RFID system has ensured high-frequency asset inventory with less time and cost, and reduced losses. He predicts that once fully deployed, RFID technology will provide a unique and accurate visualization of the status of approximately 100,000 assets. The solution is provided by Cudo Communications (Cudocomm), which utilizes UHF RFID tags from Confidex.

This multinational telecommunications group engaged in Internet, fixed line and mobile phone communications is headquartered in southern Jakarta. It is the largest mobile operator in Indonesia with more than 164 million users. The company has as many as 200 office buildings throughout Indonesia, each of which contains hundreds or thousands of assets.

Tio said that employees in each office must regularly count and inspect each asset, and then share the data with the company's headquarters. Traditionally, because each office building has its own inventory statistics methods and regulations, the data generated is not uniform. Some office buildings or branches use barcodes to scan and count assets, while others manually enter data into spreadsheets.

RFID solutions integrate different asset management systems

In 2020, Telkomsel's management negotiated with Tio and asked him to adjust and standardize all inventory systems. The management wants to implement a unified system at the headquarters to display all assets. Tio said: "My responsibilities include all assets of all 200 offices, from the Jakarta headquarters to the small branches that provide nearby services. Before deployment, if someone asks how many assets the company has in total, no one knows. So I Start thinking-how can I monitor my assets?"

He wanted to find an integrated, affordable system that could run on all sites and provide automatic data.

Telkomsel has long been clear that it needs a multifunctional UHF RFID solution to automatically capture asset data used for office operations, such as furniture, electronics, chairs, tables, lights, coffee machines, laptops, and small devices. And other assets.

Therefore, Tio cooperated with five technology providers to test their solutions in multiple office buildings, including the ease of use of the system, the ability to integrate software and management systems, and the economy. In addition, they tested the time required to take stock of all assets. He said: "We have to monitor the time because we have so many scattered office buildings."

In the end, Telkomsel chose Cudocomm's Asset Watcher asset management system. Tio recalled, "The pain point of this project is to integrate this system on all our sites."

Therefore, the goal of the software is to create standardized categories for rooms and floors in every building to which assets are allocated. This allows the company to set up a grid of rooms and floors in each building and assign locations to each asset. Then, the user can read the tag ID in each room.

Yugo Budiyanto, Cudocomm's chief technology officer, said that through the solution's "asset transfer + movement" function, users can identify the wrong items and place them back in the correct position.

Each asset is first affixed with a Confidex FerrowaveClassic metal tag. Edward Lu, Sales Director of Confidex Asia Pacific, said that the label was chosen because it can flexibly fit different materials and is cost-effective. This tag can be applied to fabric, metal, glass, plastic and wood, and can achieve a reading range of 5 to 7 meters through a handheld reader. The unique ID number encoded on each tag will be linked in the software to the detailed information of the asset to which the tag is applied.

In this solution, users carry a handheld reader that can indicate the room where they are reading tag data. The tag ID of each item can be captured when walking through the room. After using the handheld device to complete the asset inventory, the data will be uploaded to the server and then shared with the entire company.

Yugo explained that the software resides in Telkomsel's database and manages asset data for all sites, while Cudocomm provides an application for Android-based mobile devices to manage data from handheld readers.

The software can recognize when an asset moves from one location to another. For example, a chair assigned to the 15th floor is recognized in a conference room on the 20th floor. If the actual location of the asset does not match its assigned location, the software will alert users and management through the application until the asset is relocated. Tio said the company can also access the software to see which floor and even which room the tagged asset is located on.

Cudocomm also provides solutions for military customers to track weapons, and its asset management solution includes 15 modules. However, Telkomsel only uses three of these modules to monitor asset location, asset movement, and data import and export, and link this information to the company's existing SAP software.

Tio said: “There are two solutions for a tag, namely RFID and QR code. If RFID is not available, we also have other methods to capture data.” For example, scan the QR code with an Android phone and access it through the same electronic product code. The identification and history of the asset.

Currently, employees use handheld RFID readers in every facility. The company may introduce fixed readers in the next step. Today, RFID solutions have helped Telkomsel save the time of each inventory, increase the number of inventory, and thus obtain more accurate data on the status of each asset and its location.