Nissan North America Installs RFID-based Real-Time Locating System

To manage trailers filled with inbound parts and supplies, Nissan will access WhereNet's WhereSoft Yard Management System (YMS), which helps track, schedule and coordinate trailer traffic in the yard. The automaker will deploy WherePort exciters at the entrance gate, and WhereLAN locating access points will read the active RFID tags' unique ID numbers on top of the tractor-trailers. Each tag's number will be associated with information stored in the YMS app, including the supplier's name and any advance shipping notice (ASN) data. Moreover, a time and date stamp will be recorded and associated with a tag number as each trailer arrives at the entrance gate. The so-called Fast Gate system then cross-references the tag number with the associated data in the YMS system; if everything checks out fine, the tractor-trailer is granted entrance.

The automated system expedites the time required to move trailers into the yard, says Latham. "This facility makes lots of different models of vehicles, and Nissan wants to increase the output and capacity of the facility. In order to do that, they have to be better at [managing] the inbound supply chain, and they can't have a yard that gets backed up because trailers are waiting to be let into the front gate."

Once inside, drivers park the tractor-trailers in lots, while the WhereNet RLTS tracks each trailer's location. When it's time to move a trailer to an unloading dock, workers on small tractors, or switchers, can access a vehicle-mounted, touch-screen terminal, communicating via the Wi-Fi network to the YMS application, to find out which trailer to pull and where it's located. The software can tell the switcher driver the best path to a specific trailer, as well as provide instructions as to the appropriate dock door. This allows Nissan to run its just-in-time sequencing of parts, based on its assembly-line plan for each shift.

Nissan's WhereNet RTLS implementation will be implemented within 90 days. Latham says the company expects the system to be up and running sometime in the first quarter of 2007.

Nissan is not the first manufacturer to implement WhereNet's RTLS. According to Latham, the technology has already been installed in more than 100 automotive manufacturing facilities worldwide. Ford Motor Co. of Canada, for example, is using it to streamline assembly processes and electronically manage the flow of parts for the production of several vehicle models at its Oakville, Ontario, assembly complex (see Ford Canada Adopts RFID System to Keep Parts Flowing).