Goodyear Using RFID for NASCAR from Cradle to Grave

"We went through the basic learning curves," Roth recalls, in regard to establishing the distribution tracking system and the leasing program at the NASCAR events this season. "And every time we set up for a race, we're basically setting up a warehouse operation in the middle of a racetrack," where there are many different communication systems and other factors that can cause RF interference. Therefore, the Goodyear team must survey the RF activity in the area where it plans to set up its tire corral for each event, and ensure that the handheld interrogators its staff uses—Psion Teklogix's 7535 handheld computer with an RD7950 UHF RFID interrogator attachment—will operate properly. Roth notes that the Advanced ID tags inside the tires can generally be read from a distance as great as 18 to 32 inches.

At Goodyear's Akron, Ohio, headquarters, a machine embeds an inlay automatically into each NASCAR tire's sidewall during manufacture. As the tires come off the manufacturing line, interrogators collect each tag's unique ID (which Advanced ID pre-encodes to the tag) and send it to a database. There, it is stored and linked to the tire's date of manufacture and other product information. As the tires are taken to trucks headed for Goodyear's Charlotte, N.C., warehouse, interrogators installed at portals read the tags again and update the database to show the tires' movement. Later, as trucks at the warehouse are loaded with the roughly 2,500 tires needed for each race (each event in the three series generally spans two days), the tags are read again using portal readers, and the tracking software is updated with the race site to which the tires are headed.

At the track, Goodyear personnel use the Psion handheld RFID-enabled computers to queue up a team name and read the tags embedded in that team's tire allotment. Each group of tires is then given to its respective team, which must use them during the upcoming race and return them all to the Goodyear personnel upon the event's conclusion. Tires used during the race are then read and later destroyed, whereas those not used are read and returned to inventory. Roth explains that the data collected on each tire during the onsite leasing process is then updated to the main database, which Goodyear created in-house. Psion worked with Akron software integration firm CTI to create an application program interface with the Goodyear software, linking the handhelds into the tire maker's platform.

In coming seasons, NASCAR might work with Goodyear to deploy other applications for the tags. NASCAR officials, for instance, may carry handheld readers to verify, just before a race starts, that only tagged Goodyear tires are on each car.

"What we learn from racing, we take out to other areas of our businesses," says Roth. "We are using [the RFID tracking] program as a model for the retail operations. This has been a tremendous learning experience." Specifically, Roth's team is learning how and where to establish reading points in its supply chain, and how to integrate RFID tag data with Goodyear's existing IT systems, such as enterprise resource planning and warehouse management software.