NEWSROOM
1998 Archives - November 2, 1998
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Intermec's Amtech Division Boosts European Presence with Three Orders for Its High-Speed, Read/Write Dynicom® RFID Equipment
French National Railways and Leading European Steel Producer Utilize Amtech's Dynicom Technology for Seamless, High-Quality Tracking and Monitoring of Railcars
DALLAS, Nov. 2, 1998 -- The Amtech Systems Division of Intermec Technologies Corporation, a UNOVA, Inc. (NYSE:UNA) company, announced today three significant orders for its high-speed, read/write Dynicom® radio frequency identification (RFID) equipment.
The first order, received from the French National Railways, the Societe Nationale des Chemins de fer Francais (SNCF), calls for Amtech to provide 4,000 Dynicom automatic vehicle identification (AVI) tags to be affixed to railcars. The cars will be tracked utilizing the Dynicom interrogators SNCF previously installed throughout its rail network in 1997.
Used for automatic locomotive management, mass-transit positioning, passenger information systems, freight tracking, and transport monitoring, Amtech's Dynicom technology enables rail operators to accurately track the movement of their railcars, as well as obtain real-time cargo status information. As a result, rail operators can dramatically reduce operating costs through improved accuracy in locating and tracking equipment, and more effective management of train schedules.
Mounted on the undersides of the railcars, the Dynicom tags have a battery life of 15 years and require little or no maintenance; therefore, the system does not disrupt normal railcar operations.
Our customers need 'real-time' status on the position of their shipments," said Mr. Armand Toubol, head of SNCF freight and a member of SNCF's executive committee. "Installing an AVI system on our railcars is one of the means by which we intend to achieve this goal."
BEFIC Impact Detector System For SNCF Incorporates Dynicom Technology
Amtech received the second order from one of its European distributors, BEFIC, a manufacturer of electronic measurement equipment. BEFIC will incorporate Amtech's Dynicom technology into its impact detector system, Detecteur Enregistreur de Chocs Automatique (DECA), providing SNCF with a comprehensive transport monitoring system.
By leveraging Amtech's Dynicom technology, the DECA system enables SNCF to seamlessly monitor the condition of its railcars. When an impact or collision occurs, the DECA system records all critical information and transmits the data through the Dynicom interrogators, enabling SNCF to analyze impacts and better understand their causes. This analysis will help SNCF prevent similar incidents in the future, thereby improving the quality and safety of its transports.
"In developing our transport monitoring system, it was critical to have the ability to transfer information quickly and accurately, such as identifying the severity of an impact and the status of a railcar," said Mr. Jean Paul Creissen, president, BEFIC. "Since the DECA system can interface with Amtech's Dynicom technology, SNCF can use its existing hardware investment in new ways to automatically identify a train and obtain a 'real-time' status of a railcar from any one of the hundreds of Dynicom interrogators fitted to the SNCF rail network."
Amtech will furnish BEFIC with 2,180 AT5821 Dynicom tags, approximately the same number of tags supplied to BEFIC last year in the first phase of the project. The installation of the DECA system is scheduled to begin in November 1998, with completion scheduled for June 1999. Once the system is operational, SNCF will have the largest railcar fleet in the world to be fitted with an automatic impact detection system.
"Amtech is looking forward to continuing its strategic relationship with SNCF in building a fully operational and reliable transport monitoring system," said Mr. Bruno Bourguet, sales and marketing director, Europe, Amtech Systems Division. "Although typically used for transmitting railcar identification and other fixed information, the SNCF system demonstrates how railways can use Amtech's Dynicom technology for a wide range of value-added services such as sensitive-cargo monitoring and impact detection."
Sollac To Track Railcars Using Dynicom Technology
The third order was received from Alstom (formerly Gec Alsthom), a long-time Amtech marketing partner and distributor. Alstom will provide Amtech's Dynicom system to Sollac, a leading European steel producer, as part of a railcar fleet management system for its steel manufacturing plant in Dunkerque, France.
Alstom will provide 230 Dynicom tags and five interrogators to enable Sollac to track and control the movement of all of its railcars within the Dunkerque plant, as well as throughout the SNCF rail network.
"After successfully testing the Dynicom system in 1997, we decided to expand it to the remaining railcars," said Mr. Jean Claude Michel, Sollac's manager of transport. "SNCF's installation of Dynicom interrogators throughout its network has been a determining factor in our decision, as we will be able to leverage this infrastructure to track our own railcars."
Sollac currently uses Amtech's Dynicom technology to track railcars transporting critical materials that are used as additives in the steel manufacturing process. These railcars must arrive at the melting pot within a certain amount of time to avoid compromising the quality of steel produced at the plant.
"These three projects are striking examples of the enabling power of AVI in transportation," said Mr. Bourguet. "Once the infrastructure is installed, a multitude of applications become possible at the very affordable cost of fitting a tag to the railcar."
About Intermec
Amtech Systems Division is the world's leading provider of wireless identification, tracking, and monitoring technologies with 7 million electronic tags and 14,000 readers distributed throughout the world. Amtech is the only company that meets automatic equipment identification standards worldwide in all transportation markets. Amtech designs, manufactures, markets, integrates, and supports innovative solutions for the intelligent transportation industry including electronic toll and traffic management; rail, intermodal, and fleet; and access control for parking, security, airports, and ground transportation.
Intermec Technologies Corporation, a subsidiary of UNOVA, Inc. (NYSE: UNA) is a global leader in the development, manufacture and integration of automated data collection and mobile computing systems. The company's products and services are used by customers in multiple industries to improve productivity, quality, and responsiveness of business operations, from supply chain management and enterprise resource planning to field sales and service. In June 1998, the Transportation Systems Group of Amtech Corporation joined Intermec Technologies Corporation.
Headquartered in Southern California, UNOVA is a $2 billion industrial technologies company. It has global leadership positions in manufacturing systems and machine tools for the automotive, aerospace and general metalworking industries and in automated data collection, mobile computing, bar code and radio frequency identification systems for industrial, distribution, transportation, logistics and government applications.
For more information about Intermec's Intellitag RFID systems, visit the Intermec web site at www.intermec.com or call 1.800.923.4824 or 1.972.733.6600. This and an entire press kit of Intermec news are available at www.intermec.com/newsroom.
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