Monitoring and inventory of the company's assets is becoming increasingly important. Often large investments are associated with them.
To whom?
The Production Tracking and Kanban Inventory Tracking RFID solution provided by IDsys is designed to track the objects that are produced and picked throughout the production cycle.
Targeted at companies that understand the need for digitalisation and innovation to stay in the market in 10 years' time.
The result is working capital savings, increased assembly accuracy, timely delivery and reduction of errors, adherence to deadlines and savings in personnel costs.
HOW?
For verification purposes, RFID stickers with a unique ID number and, if necessary, other additional information are attached to the product. Subsequent inspection and monitoring, and recording of the results, is simple and automatic.
The picture shows a characterisation of the production line, showing the line's antennas (RFID readers), the boxes have stickers or tags, and this is how the information reaches the production staff. The picture also shows a worker with a handheld scanner to check the products. Nowadays handheld reader
The use of RFID stickers makes it easy to locate large volumes of inventory because identification is done from a distance.
WHY?
WHAT DOES THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE RFID SYSTEM GIVE
A better overview of the current state of production
It will be seen what has been produced and what still needs to be produced. This helps to better plan production and, if necessary, make changes operationally. For some reason, parts that have not been produced will catch the eye earlier, and the workflow will be smoother.
Identification of the causes of the defect
If necessary, you can view the production history of each item - who produced, finished, packed and when. In the past, it was possible to find out who made the item, but this information was on paper and time-consuming to find. In addition, it was not possible to identify when the item was manufactured.
Assembly
When the goods are packed, there is a clear overview of what is packed and what is missing. In the future, it will also be possible to integrate a camera system to quickly prove who packed the product and how, in the event of a dispute.
Statistics and reports
RFID can collect a lot of data. You can visualise that data, you can make statistics with that data, you can make decisions with that data. LIVE data can be used to make operational decisions. Longer-term statistics can be used to make strategic decisions.
Digitalisation of loss registration
Gets an overview of which parts have gone into scrap and which have been re-produced
Improving the exchange of information
Additional information on projects and details can be directed to the person who needs it. In the past, there was a lot of information noise, information was given to everyone at once and sometimes it was not clear who was supposed to do what with the information.
USE CASE
The RFID Journal describes how the Canadian company Club Car launched a new line of golf cars in 2003. The line replaced the previous two production lines, because with the introduction of RFID technology, the same line became produce both electric-powered and gas-powered cars. The use of stickers in production helps to have an accurate picture.
For the new line, the RFID solution was developed by ICE Automation Group. The solution consists of 80 assembly strollers equipped with RFID chips and 46 assembly points with an RFID reader. Assembly points are equipped with a computer and connected production monitoring system.
Power units powered by electricity or gas shall be provided with a bar code upon arrival on the assembly line. When entering the line, the RFID reader reads the code of the assembly carriage, and the worker scans the barcode, which is tied to a specific order in the database. When entering the assembly point, the RFID reader at the point reads the cart code and sends it to the central system. Based on the information from there, the assembly point computer gives the task which assembly operations and with which tools Carried out. The computer also checks to see if the operations have been performed and only then gives permission to move the assembly cart to the next assembly point.
As the preparation is based on a specific order, the additional equipment requested by the customer will be added immediately. In this way, significant time savings are obtained compared to the previous practice, when the additional equipment was later assembled into the finished product in the warehouse.
The introduction of RFID technology, in addition to the number of production lines, also reduced the assembly capacity of cars from 88 minutes to 46. At the expense of the speed of reading the RFID code alone compared to the bar code, time savings were achieved, which promised to increase production capacity by 6.5%.