Sometimes, damage isn’t visible from the outside. Get reassurance your equipment wasn’t mishandled.
Key Takeaways:
- High-value assets like electronics and medical devices require careful handling during transportation and storage due to their susceptibility to damage from physical shocks and vibrations.
- Utilizing technologies such as SpotSee’s impact indicators and recorders (like ShockWatch, ShockDot, ShockWatch 2, and the ShockLog series) helps detect and record shocks and vibrations, providing data that alerts to potential damage.
- Implementing such monitoring systems can significantly reduce damage repair and replacement costs, lower insurance claims and premiums, enhance transparency and accountability and build client trust.
- Adopting shock and vibration monitoring technologies safeguards high-value assets and provides competitive advantages in efficiency, cost reduction, and compliance adherence in a dynamic global market.
In the modern economy, the safe transportation and storage of high-value assets such as electronics, medical devices, and industrial equipment are paramount. These assets are costly and critical to the businesses that own them. These items are exposed to various risks during transportation and storage, including physical shocks and vibrations, which can lead to significant damage. Understanding how these dynamic forces affect sensitive equipment is essential in mitigating risks and ensuring the integrity of these valuable assets.
What are shocks and vibrations? Shock is a transient phenomenon with a short impulse that transmits high acceleration within a short time with significant energy. Vibration has a lower amplitude that requires an object to oscillate at the point of equilibrium. Vibration and shock often occur simultaneously — a shock causes movement that disrupts something beyond the original impact.
Shock and vibration during transportation and handling can compromise the functionality of sensitive equipment or lead to complete failure, even when the outer packaging remains intact.
What is Shock and Vibration Monitoring?
Shock and vibration monitoring is a critical step in protecting high-value assets during storage and transit. This practice involves the use of various devices that detect, measure, and record the intensity and frequency of shock and vibration events that could potentially damage goods. These monitoring tools range from basic impact indicators to sophisticated impact recorders.
Impact indicators, such as SpotSee®’s ShockWatch Lable, ShockDot, and ShockWatch 2, are simple tamperproof devices attached to the packaging of products that turn bright red if the package endures a shock beyond a predetermined threshold. ShockWatch® RFID is a tag that combines traditional RFID inventory management with impact damage monitoring. On the other hand, impact recorders such as the ShockLog® 298 and ShockLog® 248 offer detailed records of all shocks and vibrations.
With ShockLog® Cellular, you add cellular connectivity to the ShockLog 298 impact recorder, which will send you a text or email whenever an impact exceeds your pre-set thresholds anywhere there is connectivity.
Key Benefits of Implementing Shock and Vibration Monitoring
The adoption of impact recorders allows companies to monitor their shipments continuously and receive instant notifications if their cargo encounters potentially damaging conditions. This immediacy enables quick response strategies to mitigate further damage. Impact indicators can tell warehouse workers, shippers, and receivers if items have been exposed to potentially damaging shock and vibration.
Implementing shock and vibration monitoring systems can also lead to significant cost reductions. By identifying points of impact or minimizing the risk of damage, companies can save on repair costs and reduce the chances of needing to replace expensive equipment. Additionally, these systems can decrease the amount of insurance claims made for damaged goods, which can lower insurance premiums over time.
Additionally, detailed records of a shipment’s conditions, logistics companies, and shippers can provide definitive proof to support the handling quality of transported goods. This transparency is crucial for building trust with clients and can help resolve disputes about liability in cases of damage and provide internal accountability.
Case Study: Medical Devices
As medical equipment moves through the supply chain and health care setting, it can experience mishandling that affects the equipment’s performance and calibration. A healthcare facility was having an issue with equipment damage and misplaced devices.
An RFID-enabled impact indicator is just as valuable after medical devices are in service. ShockWatch RFID not only alerts users to potential damage from impacts but also helps track equipment usage, reducing losses caused by misplacement or, in worst-case scenarios, theft.
Because ShockWatch RFID tags link automatically to the facility’s asset management system, medical devices can be tracked throughout the hospital or clinic. Consequently, fewer items are lost or misplaced, and the staff knows items have arrived in pristine condition.
Applications Across Industries
Shock and vibration monitoring are not unique to the medical industry. In aerospace, components and equipment often undergo extreme conditions; monitoring ensures they can withstand harsh environments. Semiconductors are fragile and extremely sensitive to impact; automotive manufacturers must monitor delicate parts in their supply chain, such as headlights, instrument panels, glass, calibrated equipment, and brazed radiators.
So, it’s not surprising that healthcare, with its high-value medical devices like MRI machines and surgical tools, relies heavily on monitoring technology to ensure the functionality and reliability of its equipment. A company transporting fragile healthcare equipment can use ShockLog to ensure compliance with regulatory standards for medical device transportation.
Ensure Asset Integrity With Innovative Monitoring
The advantages of implementing shock and vibration monitoring are clear and substantial. By integrating these technologies, companies can protect their high-value assets, save money, enhance accountability, and maintain compliance with industry standards. As transportation and storage processes evolve, so will the methods for safeguarding critical assets. Businesses that adopt these innovative monitoring solutions place themselves at a competitive advantage, ready to meet the challenges of a dynamic global market.
Have questions, or are you ready to buy? Contact our sales team to discuss SpotSee’s simple, effective, and innovative solutions.
