Case Study: Vendor Managed Inventory Using Remote Wireless Monitoring
Background
The City of Mission, located in the South Texas Rio Grande Valley, is a rapidly growing area. Due to high concentrations of sulfides in the water and long force mains in the collection system, H2S gas odors and corrosion have elevated to problematic levels in Mission. The city decided to employ Premier Chemicals' Thioguard®, an alkaline slurry product for odor and corrosion control, to treat this problem.
Premier Chemicals leads the industry in production and sales of magnesia specialty products like Thioguard. Added directly to sewers, Thioguard stops odors by preventing the formation of hydrogen sulfide gas; surfaces sprayed with the product are neutralized and protected from corrosion. Typically, Thioguard enters the wastewater collection system at pumping stations, which are almost always unmanned and often in remote locations.
There are now five Thioguard feed units at the headworks of the treatment plant and at the discharge of the lift station force mains in Mission. A typical Thioguard feed unit consists of a 2,500-gallon storage tank feeding from just a few gallons per day to several hundred gallons per day. Feed units like those in Mission are often placed in remote locations that may not be visited by City personnel but once a week. Premier did not know how these units were operating at any given time. If their chemical feed pumps failed or maintenance personnel turned off the power, they were not notified until a delivery driver visited the site. Premier Chemicals searched for a monitoring system that would allow them to better manage their inventory of Thioguard as well as alert technicians if a pump or mixer was malfunctioning. They decided to use American Innovation's Bullhorn Remote Monitoring System to monitor their tank levels.
About Remote Monitoring
Bullhorn checks inputs from equipment remotely and provides automatic notification of alarm events by fax, page and/or email. The Bullhorn system uses the MicroBurst™ wireless network from Aeris.net to transfer information from remote equipment to a central database. Because it uses the control channels of the existing cellular telephone networks, MicroBurst data transfer is low-cost, robust and available nationwide. In seconds, data packets are transferred from the Bullhorn unit over the cellular network to the Aeris.net operating center and on to AI's secure web site. Once received at the Bullhorn site, packets are decoded and the data is posted for customers to view or to download.
About Vendor Managed Inventory
Automated inventory management with wireless remote monitoring reduces overhead costs for both the vendor and the customer by eliminating expensive and often-unnecessary trips to check on inventory levels in remote locations. Instant notifications by fax, page and/or email let the vendor know current product inventory levels at each of their customer's storage facilities. When levels become low, a vendor can immediately replenish the supply without interruption of a customer's manufacturing or work process. If inventory levels drop too quickly, a vendor will know that there may be a critical supply situation at the storage facility (e.g. a leak or unanticipated demand) and can respond proactively.
The Solution
To get the information they needed, Premier coupled the Bullhorn device with a Milltronics device and a Devar digital controller. The Milltronics unit senses the level of the Thioguard in the storage tank; the Devar unit controls the signal from the Milltronics to Bullhorn and has a local digital display showing the gallons in the tank at any given time. Bullhorn will be a standard component on all tanks of Thioguard.
The Bullhorn device will ensure that their customers are properly supplied with Thioguard at all times, eliminating the need for a visit to check supply levels. Using Bullhorn to manage inventory protects them with alarm capability, and reduces their costs to completely satisfy their customers. Bullhorn will also alert Premier technicians of an alarm situation. The status of the tank and whether it is operating properly is extremely important from a safety perspective. Bullhorn will allow Premier to increase efficiency and customer satisfaction by providing Thioguard in a safe and timely manner.
Comments
Now, Premier receives health checks on scheduled events and knows how much Thioguard is in each tank, if the tank mixer is running as well as low level tank alarms via fax. This data allows Premier to monitor remotely the daily, weekly, and monthly usage of the feed unit. With this information, they can track the wear of the Thioguard feed pump, the accuracy of inventory control and have a means of secondary verification of gallons delivered and billed to the customer.