‘Cradle to grave’ Item ID system back up and tracking Published June 13, 2014 By Brian Shreve Robins Publick Affairs ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. -- Keeping tabs on every single piece of equipment used by the world's largest Air Force may sound like a gargantuan task. That's because it is. But, David Burton and his cohorts are working to make that process much easier at Robins. A new labeling technique that uses hand-held terminals to create a unique identification code for all base items is back up and running after facing some setbacks, according to Burton, 78th Logistics Readiness Squadron Materiel Management flight chief. The process of distinguishing each item at Robins from any other in the Air Force inventory began in 2012 and is roughly 60 percent complete after being delayed for about a year due to software issues. "With this, we're able to track any piece of equipment from cradle to grave," said Burton. "Once a label is put on an item, it stays on it, whether it goes to distribution services or is transferred to another user. Now that we've gotten connectivity back, we're going to be finishing up the other items on base." Why is that so important? The new system greatly improves accountability and data reliability in tracking assets, providing complete "visibility" of an item, such as where something came from, who it belongs to and, perhaps most important, where it is in the event a piece of equipment is not found during inventory, Burton said. Resembling a considerably more sophisticated version of a grocery store scanning device, the hand-held terminals store serial, stock and part numbers, as well as the manufacturer of an item. Though no bigger than a penny, that information can be read from each label, or unique item identifier, with a swipe of the terminal. "Even if a UIID is damaged, the label will not change," said Burton. "We would (simply) have to order a duplicate of that particular label. It's forever."