William Hackett is expanding its customer offering with new digital solutions.

The UK-based manufacturer adds RFID chips to its popular Hack8 and Hack10 chain sling assembly tags. These digital records provide a more durable and reliable method of accessing documentation, helping to improve industry safety.

Josh Burgess, Business Transformation Lead at William Hackett said: “The addition of RFID chips to our Hack8 and Hack10 products answers a growing call from our customers for digital tools to access documentation.

“William Hackett has always been at the forefront of safety. RFID chips are the latest weapon in our arsenal to help reduce risk and enhance safe working within our industry.”

Using NFC technology, riggers and other users can benefit from quick access to key product information. They simply scan the tag with their mobile phone and view the information via the updated William Hackett app. The app is free to download from the Apple app store and Google Play.

Benefits include fast access to Declaration of Conformity certificates, including serial numbers, item codes, WLL and date of manufacture. Users can also view the manufacturer’s essential safe use instructions. In addition, the app saves recently scanned tags for future reference. The updated app also retains its former functionality with the sling calculator, which helps operators to design new sling assemblies.

The technology in the RIFD chips also allows users to upload the assemblies into their asset management platforms. This enables easier asset management from one source, rather than data silos or multiple accounts and log-ins.

William Hackett has developed the technology in response to growing customer demand. The company will integrate RFID chips into all its Hack8 and Hack10 assemblies manufactured in the UK, and is promising that digitalisation of more products will follow.

“This is only the beginning of our journey to integrate data into our products,” added Josh. “We’re introducing RFID chips in a way that is user-friendly for operators and brings benefits to our distributors at the same time.

“Distributors don’t need to pay out for a new asset management system; we can give them access to the data they need within their existing platforms.”

William Hackett is launching its new RFID capability with a digital campaign, highlighting the new capability and the functionality of the app. This includes a short instructional video to give users the confidence to get started with the app.