RFIDs move upstream into manufacturing

An IDC - Intelligent Distributed Controls product story

Edited by the Manufacturingtalk editorial team Mar 17, 2005

Only now are engineers realising that for RFID technology to be totally effective it has to move upstream into the manufacturing processes.

While the potential benefits of implementing RFID technology in supply and distribution networks have been much reported, only now are engineers realising that for the technology to be totally effective it has to move upstream into manufacturing processes.

A good example underlining this development is the manufacture of high value electronic equipment such as desktop PCs and laptops.

In this area, manufacturers are interested in fitting tags, not only as a means of tracking products, but also for retaining information on them throughout their life.

Tagging goes beyond the efficient assembly of products; providing key data for manufacturers to handle and manage distributor agreements and customer warranty guarantees: issues that have an impact on their businesses.

In addition, the new WEEE directive places responsibility on manufacturers for the cost of disposing of products at the end of their useful life.

The net result of all these factors is that the ability of manufacturers to retain information on products from "cradle to grave" is now a necessity rather than a luxury.

Despite the growing compulsion, RFID should not be seen as a burden to production: far from it.

In fact, RFID offers the unique ability to provide benefits across the four stages of a product's life cycle: production, distribution, service and disposal.

These benefits are ably demonstrated using the example of PC manufacture.

* Production - in the production phase an inexpensive read/write tag is attached to the PC to hold all the build details.

These include part numbers and supplier details for processor, power supply, modem, interface cards (etc).

This data can be transferred - if required - via RF links to update stores order processing and trigger automatic re-ordering when stock levels are low.

In addition, the production process from assembly to testing and final inspection is tracked and logged in real time, using either hand-held PDAs, or, where conveyor systems are employed, automatically using RFID portals.

This not only provides management with critical work in progress monitoring but also means that data can be maintained locally on the production item; thus enabling management to query the product locally without having to rely on RF connectivity to the database.

Furthermore, the availability of critical production data and work in progress monitoring in near real-time, depending on the RF coverage, gives management the flexibility to continually review and optimise their operations with up-to-date information at all times.

* Distribution - the second phase benefits of RFID become evident when the product enters the supply chain for distribution.

Distribution processes generally involve receiving and put away, together with picking, and shipping operations.

An RFID enabled product provides a facility for updating the product tag (within a restricted tag data area) with receipt/delivery details.

This is also applicable both at the pallet or carton level, depending on the supply chain, and product type.

The update is accomplished either manually, using an RFID enabled PDA, or automatically using a portal over a conveyor, or antenna configuration across a bay door or trailer.

During picking and shipping operations, then, the use of products, cartons and pallets fitted with RFID tags provides another level of traceability.

The resulting data is particularly useful for (among others) logistics companies that offer web based tracking services for automatic product location.

* Service - the service arena is another area where fitting a tag during manufacture provides significant benefits.

Increasingly, products that fail or are rejected are sent to centralised service depots.

The returns are shipped from hundreds of different retailers, and without some form of tagging the service depot cannot tell if the product is still under warranty, or whether it has been in for repair before.

In essence they have no history of the product and, without a unique identifier, no simple mechanism to trace product in and out of the depot.

This all changes with the adoption of tags: each product carries unique part number, and then everything becomes traceable against that unique number, including date of manufacture/ date of purchase, date of return, date of repair, repair reference etc Away from the returns depot, tags are performing another type of service function: this time in offices.

Large companies encounter problems with tracking PCs as they are constantly moved during office reorganisations.

Fitting tags enables the PCs and laptops (etc) to be tracked and service details/upgrades to be retained, including details of PAT testing, which is mandatory and usually carried out every year.

* Disposal - under the latest WEEE directive manufacturers of PCs, and other electrical goods such as cookers, fridges and other white goods, are now liable for the cost of their disposal.

With tags fitted into these products, the task of disposal is much simplified.

Tagging would enable the product to be logged-in during both collection and disposal and could also be used to facilitate the logistics process, and verify the number of units processed, and to determine payment to the recycler.

IDC is at the forefront of this recycling technology, exploiting its expertise in mobile data capture in the tracking of waste refrigerators for M Baker Recycling of Exeter.

IDC's involvement is the result of a contract requirement for 58 Irish local authorities to track the obsolete domestic and commercial refrigerated equipment from collection to disposal.

All of the fridges collected have Smart Tags applied at the collection sites, which are then scanned by the collection team using Symbol pocket PCs with a built in barcode scanner and wireless WAN/LAN connection, as they are loaded onto the van or truck.

On arrival at regional depots the Smart Tags data is automatically downloaded over a wireless connection to a PC, which automatically logs, and records the collection data before the fridges are shipped to the recycling facility in St Helens.

IDC developed all the software including pocket PC and client/server software packages for the collection and recycling centres using an Oracle client/server real time database, in combination with applications from their standard toolset of component modules developed in the.NET environment using the C# programming language.