Cami Expands Its RFID Deployment

Last year, Denomme reported, Cami Automotive began using RFID to solve a growing problem at the facility: an overtaxed yard security system. Up to 500 trailer trucks bring parts and other goods to the plant each day, and a number of cars enter and leave the yard, including those undergoing road tests or belonging to visiting employees or the company pool. Before employing RFID, two security guards had to manually check each vehicle moving into and out of the yard. But with so many vehicles entering the facility, the influx often became too much for the guards to handle and, as a result, the gate was sometimes left open while the guards tried to maintain manual records of incoming vehicles.

This raised concerns regarding security, and failed to provide Cami Automotive an easy means of determining whether a specific truck or vehicle was in or out of the yard at any given time. By installing WhereNet exciters and antennas around the entrance and exit points, and by adding WhereTag III tags to the 500 truck trailers—as well as to the test, pool and employee vehicles—the car maker has managed to leverage the technology used for parts replenishment for an entirely different application.

Cami has linked the WhereNet hardware and middleware to the security gate controller, so that when an authorized vehicle approaches, the gate automatically opens. WherePort exciters and WhereLAN access points located throughout the yard are used to determine the location of tagged vehicles within the facility. Records log the movement of the tagged vehicles into and out of the yard, and can be accessed through the facility's computer network.

Thanks largely to the company's history of using WhereNet's hardware and middleware on the manufacturing floor, Cami was able to install the system in its yard just 60 days. What's more, Denomme said, it achieved a return on the investment it made to outfit the yard in less than 18 months, and improved the efficiency of the entrance gate by 75 percent. In fact, he added, one of the two security guard positions has been eliminated, leading to significant savings in labor costs.

Looking forward, Denomme said, Cami Automotive is tracking advances in passive RFID technology. New tag construction and design have made passive tags more resistant to RF interference from metallic surfaces, making them possible contenders for a number of asset-tracking and product-tracking applications the company has in mind.