Holland 1916 Inc. Forms Three Subsidiaries

Since our founding in 1916, customers have relied upon Holland 1916 Inc. to manufacture quality identification products to convey branding, operating and safety information. Through the years we have, based upon customer needs, expanded our product line.  For instance, in 2003, we added membrane switches.  In 2006, it was touch screens.  Then in 2007 we added a RFID department.  In 2008, we manufactured our first metal console.  Earlier this year, we sold our first electro-mechanical enclosure. Read more >>

Oilfield Service Companies Renting Smarter with RFID

Today we announced our RFID Metal Data Cinch to enable oilfield service companies speedy and efficient handling of their rental fleet. We have several large Oil and Gas rental providers in the Gulf of Mexico, Bakken Shale, North Sea, and more using the RFID Metal Data Cinch to help automatically identify rental assets such as frac iron, pumps, slings, generators and more. Read more >>

The Future of RFID in Oil and Gas Operations

Where is RFID headed in the oil and gas industry? Current applications are pointing out new directions the technology could move towards as more companies experience the benefits of accurate, real-time data collection in the field.

RFID can play a critical role in oil and gas operations by providing two primary benefits: risk reduction and increased efficiency. Both can have an enormous impact on cost and on employee and equipment safety. Read more >>

Holland 1916 Smashing Success at RFID Journal LIVE! 2012

If you were at the RFID Journal LIVE! 2012 Show in Orlando you couldn’t help but hear Holland 1916’s Toughest Tag Demo. In order to demonstrate that our tags are unbreakable, we demoed our IP-69K Shock test device that drops a 15 lb weight on the tag from a height of 5 feet. The shock test generated quite a shocking reaction since the loud noise made everyone in a 50 foot radius jump. Our Toughest Tag demo was voted as a finalist for the coolest demo and although we didn’t win, we definitely got noticed! Read more >>

DataCinch to Assist in Construction of Plant for Destroying Chemical Weapons

Bechtel Parsons Blue Grass will use Holland 1916′s DataCinch RFID solutions to help track equipment during the construction of a pilot plant designed to destroy chemical weapons.

Bechtel Parsons Blue Grass is the systems contractor that the Department of Defense’s Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives program selected to design, build, systemize, test, operate, and close a facility to destroy the chemical weapons stockpile at the Blue Grass Army Depot in Kentucky.

The depot, near Richmond, includes a supply of conventional munitions as well as chemical weapons, including 523 tons of blister agent in projectiles, along with nerve gas. These agents (including mustard gas and sarin gas, both stored in liquid form) become unstable as they age. Read more >>

RFID Improves Safety Inspection Process for Lifting Industry

In the Lifting Industry, safety and regulatory compliance is paramount. High liability assets must be inspected and recertified on a regular basis to insure that they are in good working order and will not fail. Because when accidents do occur in the field, the result can be severe injury, high costs, or even death.

In the past, inspection and recertification processes have been quite cumbersome and inefficient. Fleets of inspectors go into the field to perform thousands of recertifications, armed only with notebooks and pens. They must match the serial number on the asset with one of many serial numbers in their notebook, perform the inspection, and then record each detail of the inspection by hand writing results on a piece of paper. But it doesn’t stop there. The information recorded by hand must then be taken into an office where it is keyed into spread sheets, printed out in certificate form, and finally faxed to the site and/or filed in a filing cabinet… Not only is this a ridiculous amount of work, but this system is riddled with opportunities for human error. Read more >>

RFID Takes the Guesswork Out of Inspections

Safety inspections and audits play a critical role in the energy, mining, construction and other industries. Regular inspections ensure that equipment is operating safely, and that operators are in compliance regulations issued by organizations like Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA). Keeping inspections up to date helps companies avoid fines, reduce liability, improve working conditions, and avoid costly downtime due to accidents, injuries, or compliance issues. Read more >>

RFID Privacy Fears Overblown

Readers of oil industry magazine Rigzone were up in arms over a recent article about RFID employee badges. In response, the magazine printed a lengthy article about RFID privacy issues that, unfortunately, created some additional confusion.

The RFID blowback was in response to an article about COTEMAR, an oil/gas platform services operation in Mexico, that deployed RTLS-based employee identification solution to replace a slow, inaccurate bar code-based system. Read more >>

Holland1916 Latest Invention: Reusable Pipe Tracker

Pipe Tracker

In the Oil & Gas world, pipes come in all shapes and sizes but getting the right pipe for the job is critical. For years, O&G rental companies and service providers have been looking for a way to identify their tough to track assets such as tubulars, joints, pressure control equipment and more for increased efficiency and reduced liability. Read more >>

More Read Range More Problems? Some Times…

Many times when I begin the RFID conversation with a company that is in the early stages of evaluating a RFID solution for their operations, they are convinced they need big read range in order for it to make sense for their application. And in many of these cases, by the time they’ve really done their homework and figured out how RFID will fit with their applications… they only require a fraction of the read range they thought they needed. In fact, they learn that if they were to get their initial wish of big reads, it would create major issues with the processes they are trying to put in place. Too much read range can be a bad thing…

On the industrial side of the RFID market, many of the applications companies are using RFID for is related to inspections, preventative maintenance and recertifications. For all of these actions, the operator must be very close to the asset. Why put a 10 foot read range tag on an asset if the worker must be within 10 inches of the asset to perform the action?

Many of the industrial assets getting RFID enabled are on the small side, and they are often setting in a pile or are in very close proximity to many like assets when the operator is working with them. If the worker needs to read the tag on one asset that is very close to many other assets, big read range is a problem. This is because the worker needs to read the tag on a single asset, but his reader is picking up the tags on all of the assets. And if he can’t single out an asset to perform an action on, then everything comes to a screeching halt.

Another problem that can arise is pointing the reader at tag A, but unknowingly reading tag B instead (which could be behind you). This can happen in situations where there is a lot of metal in the area where the operator is working. If the read range on the tag is too long, it is common that he can be pointing the reader at a specific tag, but the RF bounces off of the metal in the room and he is actually reading a tag that is nowhere near where he is pointing the reader. This can be a big issue, especially when the worker is editing critical information tied to the wrong asset! You can imagine when dealing with high liability assets how devastating a mistake this could be!

Obviously, there are countless applications where medium or long read range is critical. But, each application is unique. And much thought must be put in to what read range will be a good fit for your specific application.