The goal was greater transparency in the supply chain. Achieving that goal would require improved efficiency over the company’s barcode-based tracking system in order to reduce both the time required to track the containers and the cost of those tracking efforts.
Solution
The company worked with a global information technology provider to identify possible solutions for the initiative. Pre-tests demonstrated the potential of RFID asset tracking as a superior alternative to the barcode system. A business case was developed suggesting that, by implementing an RFID tag-based system, the company could decrease the amount of containers required and the length of the supply cycle. Due to the presence of metal in the engine blocks and the containers, on-metal RFID tags were necessary to ensure signal reliability. The size and durability of the tags was also an issue; the company had experienced significant problems with the loss of metal barcodes, requiring costly, time-consuming repairs of the containers during the process chain.
Following the recommendation of RFID, an evaluation was undertaken in the auto company’s RFID Test and Innovation Center.
Passive RFID tags from different suppliers were tested to determine the most effective tag for the application. The mounting position of the tags posed a unique challenge, as the placement of the engine within each container required the tags to be mounted horizontally on the bottom of the containers.
The HID EXO RAIN® RFID UHF tags produced the best and most consistent results regardless of it’s position on the container. Following the initial evaluation, the auto company decided to move forward with HID as a supplier.
Pilot Investment
- HID EXO RFID tags for engine containers
- Deister Electronic passive long-range RFID reader
- noFilis CrossTalk software platform
- Industrial PCs, handheld PDAs, SAP connection
Results
Although the pilot has yet to reach its completion, the auto company has already realized greater transparency in its supply chain tracking efforts. The circulation time of the company’s container assets can now be calculated precisely and potential problems (including the loss of containers) can be allocated to a responsible cause or party within the system and reported upon in real-time. More importantly, a reduction of the whole circulation process of the containers has been achieved.
Due to the success of this pilot, the auto company is planning to implement RFID asset tracking on containers for another engine type. Additionally, the tracking of the entire supply chain of the current pilot project and the expansion RFID on smaller containers for other automotive components is now a real possibility—thanks to the ongoing efforts of the global IT provider and the performance of the HID EXO RFID tags.
