MTU Examines RFID to Keep Its Production Line Rolling

The system proved to work with the ERP application, which was the primary goal of the simulation. MTU is considering deploying the RFID kanban system across the C-part inventory at MTU's Berlin manufacturing operation as soon as this summer. A complete rollout on the production line would require 450 cards—one for each C-part—as well as an interrogator in each mailbox. As the RFID kanban cards are reused, the cost of implementing the system will be offset quite easily by the benefits of avoiding inventory shortages, which can stall production.

The kanban cards themselves cost around €1 ($1.29) each, but putting a price on the effects of a production line halt isn't easy. "One interruption can cost thousands of euros if we can't meet a customer's delivery deadline," says Resch. "But, on the other hand, if the deadline is weeks away, production-line staff can work on other projects during a delay, and there is no detrimental cost at all to us."



Resch believes there is plenty of potential for RFID, not only in its jet-engine manufacturing operations in Berlin, but also in its maintenance, repair and overhaul operations (MRO) in Germany and around the world. The maintenance operations lines use thousands of C-level parts, compared with the 450 C-level parts on the manufacturing line. The additional number stems from the MRO's ability to work on engines from other manufacturers.

Employees on MTU's maintenance lines—in Germany's Hanover and Berlin plants, as well as at sites in the United States, China, Canada and Brazil—are required to inspect and, if necessary, service and repair all engine parts. There are also international regulations that could increase the value of RFID-tagging in MTU's operations.

"There is a legal requirement that any parts stripped from a turbine and able to be reinstalled have to have come from that same engine," says Resch. "Even if we are working on two identical engines, the parts can not be mixed."

Engine parts are placed in containers so those from a particular type of engine can be easily tracked. The operator at each maintenance station has to enter a code into the production-line management system for the item and engine before any work can be carried out. This redundant process could be automated by RFID-tagging the items and installing a networked RFID interrogator at each workstation to read and verify every tagged item.

"It is now a very complicated process. With no bar code, a serial number has to be manually entered into the ERP system at each workstation," says Resch. "That's a very repetitive and time-consuming system, but it is the way that every company in the industry works."

RFID is not the only solution MTU is considering to help streamline this operation, Resch says. It has already worked with 2D bar coding, but a decision on which technology will be used will be influenced by how its airline and aero engine customers decide to use RFID or other technologies for their own identification requirements.

Whether the company uses RFID to track its largest and most expensive parts, it's likely that it will play a positive role in helping track the cheapest and the smallest.