Athelia signed a contract with Disa Gas for GasFlow's installation

GasFlow, the traceability system of GPL cylinders through RFID technology, is already deployed and working.
News | 20/12/2007

The project background
DISA GAS is a subsidiary of Disa; it pioneered in Spain the LPG distribution and now it counts on LPG filling, storage and distribution plants in each of the 7 Canary Islands. DISA is the fouth operator in the Spanish market related to the number of fuel stations (with Shell’s and Cepsa brand image).

Disa required:

• the automation of the manual tab in the filling process
  
• automation of the cylinders’ rejection process.
  
• visibility over the main KPI of their business (i.e: rotation rate of their cylinders, consumption patterns of their customers, etc) in order to take measures to improve their logistics/production processes.
  

The solution
Athelia proposed to Disa its GasFlow solution, which mainly consists of:
1. The unitary identification of each cylinder by means of putting on them a tag (chip+packaging), specifically designed for Disa’s cylinders, in a way that it satisfies the requirements and the needs of all their processes.

2. RFID reading stations: these had to be able to read all the cylinder types passing through them, as in the case of Disa Gas several kind cylinders are filled in the same lines, in different shifts (6kg and 13kg). Formed by Antenna+reader+mounting stand+integration (ATEX).

3. IT Network, the arhitecture of servers to run the Gas Flow:

• 1 Central Server in the head offices.
  
• 1 LFT (Local Factory Tracking) Server in the control room of each factory. It is a replication of the central server in each plant.
  
• 1 Satchmo in each filling line. It is a device connected to and handling all the I/O like: reader+antennas, PLC’s, pneumatic pushers, etc. It is linked to the LFT Server
  

4. Business Intelligence:

• Gas Flow Central: the main database with all the cylinders and their “properties”, located in Gas Flow’s central server.
  
• Gas Flow Portal: the reporting tool, in order to get all the KPI’s out of the Gas Flow Central, located in the central server.
  
• Gas Flow LFT: The software with the business rules in the LFT Server.
  
• Gas Flow Line Control: the software embedded in the Satchmo to control all the devices in the line.
  
• The protocols between Gas Flow and the control systems of the plant, etc.
  

The proyect overview

• 600,000 tags sold up to date.
  
• Deployed: 2 filling plants + 1 cylinder’s repairing center + 1 cylinders manufacturer.
  
• Software Gas Flow (Central, Portal, Line Control, Local Factory, ...).
  
• The integration of the system.
  
• Maintenance contract for 3 years, software and hardware.
  

The GasFlow benefits:

• Improve cylinder rotation rate and tracking.
  
• Have an accurate tare weight management.
  
• Reduce filling costs.
  
• Improve the security and production practices.
  
• Track all operations realised with the cylinders for a total quality management.
  
• Reduce maintenance costs.
  
• Create a centralised data base to track individually each cylinder.
  
• Improve customer relations.
  

If you would like to receive more information on Athelia’s solutions please contact the office nearest to you or click here.