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Cal Poly Sponsored Project at PG&E Results in Increased Inventory Accuracy
TORONTO, March 31 /CNW/ - Sirit Inc. ("Sirit") (TSX: SI), a global provider of radio frequency identification ("RFID") technology, today announced that its INfinity 510 ("IN510") reader and RSI-647 Corkscrew RFID tags have been selected for deployment at Pacific Gas & Electric's ("PG&E") Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant, Avila Beach, California.
The Sirit IN510 readers and RFID tags solution, installed by Cal Poly Global Automated Identification Technology Center (PolyGAIT), have been deployed in a project to identify and locate critical spare parts in a massive warehouse at Diablo Canyon. Accurate availability for the $65 million of inventory at Diablo Canyon is essential for both effective operations and maintenance of the power plant. In addition, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission requires a complete physical count of Diablo Canyon's inventory every two years.
Following the RFID implementation, spare parts are tagged with Sirit's Corkscrew RFID tags upon receipt at the facility. The tags are then read by Sirit's IN510 readers, installed at specified locations, providing visibility into which material or items are located within a precise location range. While employees perform their regular picking functions, the RFID system transmits the material and location range to Diablo's SAP computer system. The transmitted data is then reviewed for accuracy with exceptions audited and corrected. In addition to the process improvements, the RFID system is projected to save PG&E the cost of one full-time employee, while reducing the burden of challenging physical inventory counts.
"The Sirit RFID tags and readers are exceeding our expected read performance targets," said Del Ritchie, Supply Chain Manager, Diablo Canyon Power Plant. "Our RFID system is capturing the data we need to ensure accurate inventory for our nuclear power plant and we have been able to reduce inventory processing costs by 60%."
Before implementing the system, the PolyGAIT team conducted an extensive comparative evaluation of twenty different RFID tags types and five different RFID readers. Following this evaluation the PolyGAIT team selected Sirit's IN510 reader and Corkscrew design tag for the Diablo Canyon implementation due to their exceptional performance over the competitors' products.
"The results of the PolyGAIT testing continues to validate the superior performance and functionality that the Sirit solution offers," said Norbert Dawalibi, President and CEO, Sirit Inc. "We look forward to continued collaboration with Cal Poly's group in future deployments."
"The Diablo Canyon project is our largest undertaking to date," says Tali Freed, Associate Professor of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering and PolyGAIT Director. "The project has evolved from an academic simulation into one that incorporates design, experimentation, development, implementation, testing and on-the-job training." Lawrence Rinzel, Freed's associate and PolyGAIT's Interim Director adds "The support Sirit has provided, along with the IN510 reader's capabilities, made the deployment of the RFID readers and tags a straightforward process."
About PolyGAIT - The Cal Poly Center for Global Automatic Identification Technologies California Polytechnic State University
Tali Freed founded the Cal Poly Global Automated Identification Technology laboratory (PolyGAIT) to educate and train students and industrial partners, and foster collaboration for the advancement of RFID technologies. In addition to providing hands-on training to academic and industrial groups and individuals, the center's current R&D capabilities are diverse, and include areas such as RF testing, antenna development, electronics manufacturing, packaging and logistics, post-harvest, and geographical information systems. The center has been conducting innovative R&D projects and industrial implementation projects, and is well-known for its multidisciplinary approach to solving challenging RFID problems. For more information, visit www.polygait.calpoly.edu.
PolyGAIT's multidisciplinary capabilities were highlighted in the PG&E RFID implementation. Three additional faculty were involved in the project; Heather Smith, Statistics, Rollin Strohman, Bioresources and Agricultural Engineering, and Jay Singh, Industrial Technology. Industrial Engineering (IE) graduate student Michael Krist led the project student team, which included Todd Hunter (IE), Kyle Dodson, Industrial Technology, Bryce Taylor (IE), Warren (Max) Peak, Engineering Management Program, Andrew Davidson, Manufacturing Engineering, and a dozen students of various disciplines who took part in the extensive tagging process. The students developed everything from the ground up, including hardware testing, writing software, and determining how best to mount the RFID readers on the warehouse's telescoping forklifts.
About Sirit Inc.
Sirit Inc. (TSX: SI) is a leading provider of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology worldwide. Harnessing the power of Sirit's enabling-RFID technology, customers are able to more rapidly bring high quality RFID solutions to the market with reduced initial engineering costs. Sirit's products are built on more than 15 years of RF domain expertise addressing multiple frequencies (LF/HF/UHF), multiple protocols and are compliant with global standards. Sirit's broad portfolio of products and capabilities can be customized to address new and traditional RFID market applications including Supply Chain & Logistics, Cashless Payment (including Electronic Tolling), Access Control, Automatic Vehicle Identification, Near Field Communications, Inventory Control & Management, Asset Tracking and Product Authentication. For more information, visit www.sirit.com.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
Safe Harbor Statement under the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Except for the statements of historical fact contained herein, the information presented constitutes "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and Canadian provincial securities legislation. These forward-looking statements relate to, among other things, Sirit's objectives, goals, strategies, intentions, plans, beliefs, expectations and estimates, and can generally be identified by the use of words such as "may", "will", "could", "should", "would", "suspect", "outlook", "expect", "intend", "estimate", "anticipate", "believe", "plan", "forecast", "objective" and "continue" (or the negative thereof) and words and expressions of similar import, and may include statements concerning possible or assumed future results, financial outlook and/or future-oriented financial information. Although Sirit believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievement of Sirit to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by these forward-looking statements as a result of risks and uncertainties impacting Sirit's business. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations include but are not limited to: Sirit's ability to achieve commercialization and/or commercial acceptance of its RFID technology; the evolution of, and adoption rate in, the RFID market; changes in Sirit's strategic relationships; Sirit's dependence on resellers, distributors and significant customers; the utility of research and development expenditures undertaken by Sirit; product defects; increased levels of competition; changes in laws and regulations; foreign exchange fluctuations; and Sirit's overall liquidity and capital resources. These and other important risks are discussed in further detail in the section entitled "Risks Factors" in Sirit's Annual Information Form dated March 13, 2009 and in Sirit's management's discussion and analysis found in its 2008 annual report as filed with the securities regulatory authorities in Canada via SEDAR. Although Sirit has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. Sirit does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this news release as a result of new information, further events or otherwise. This cautionary statement expressly qualifies the forward-looking information in this news release.
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