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TRAKON Blog

Practical notes on RFID asset tracking, inventory counting and exit protection. Written by the people who build TRAKON.

The TRAKON Asset Basic workstation at a tool crib: badge or PIN sign-in, tools scanned on the desktop reader waiting for Confirm Checkout, and the Live Board showing who has what with overdue flags
RFIDTool managementAsset trackingTool crib

How to make tool borrow and return records accountable to a person: the tool crib RFID workstation approach

A badge or PIN, the tools on the reader, one confirm. How a tool crib records who has what, flags overdue and damaged tools, and what the station cannot know.

 Calibration due date tracking in TRAKON Asset Basic: the Calibrations page sorted by urgency with due dates and holders, and the alert rules where expired instruments are blocked from borrowing by default
RFIDCalibrationAsset trackingTool management

Calibration due date tracking that does not live in a spreadsheet

Put the due date on the asset record and check it at issue: expired instruments blocked at the workstation, certificates on file, the audit report one export away.

 TRAKON driving a Zebra RFID printer: the Bridge setup with the Zebra RFID label printer enabled over TCP/IP Print and Bind, and the bind dialog where Print and Bind prints the label, verifies the chip and binds the EPC to the asset
RFIDZebra printerLabel encodingAsset tracking

Print and encode RFID asset labels on a Zebra printer, straight from TRAKON

TRAKON drives RFID-capable Zebra printers: one job prints the label, encodes the chip, verifies it and binds the EPC to the asset. And when you can skip encoding.

 The TRAKON Locate workflow: the web dialog that dispatches a locate task to an AZH-P1 handheld, and the handheld screen showing target detected with an RSSI reading, an LED Pulse button and Confirm Found
RFIDAsset trackingRTLSLocate

Does RFID show you where an asset is right now?

No, and the honest answer matters. Passive UHF gives you last-seen presence and a handheld locate, not a live map. Where RTLS fits, and what to use instead.

 The three screens of an RFID spot check in TRAKON: the web dialog that scopes a check to one location, the AZH-P1 handheld counting matched, missing and unexpected tags during the sweep, and the reconciled result showing expected, scanned, confirmed, missing, unexpected and coverage
RFIDInventory countSpot checkAsset tracking

How to run your first RFID spot check

The four steps of an RFID spot check, how to read confirmed, missing and unexpected, and why your first count audits your data before it measures your stock.

 Three on metal RFID tags on white cards over a brushed steel background: an engineering plastic hard tag, a pair of small ceramic tags and a roll of on metal labels
RFIDAsset trackingEPC Gen2On-metal tags

Will RFID tags work on metal tools and equipment?

Metal does not just block RFID, it retunes the tag and reshapes the field. Detuning versus reflection, picking a metal mount tag, and the tools that never read.

 A printed barcode label and a UHF RFID on metal hard tag, each on a white card over a brushed steel surface
RFIDAsset trackingBarcodeEPC Gen2

RFID vs barcode for asset tracking: what actually changes

A barcode needs line of sight and one label at a time. A passive UHF RFID tag does not. What that changes in asset tracking, and the honest limits of RFID.

See it on your own assets

TRAKON runs on EPC Gen2 UHF tags and ACCUZ® readers. The software comes free with the hardware.

Asset Basic · borrow, return, calibration→ Count Basic · spot checks and locate→ Guard Basic · exit protection→