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Automotive Manufacturer Tracks Incoming Inventory
At its factory, Continental fitted five forklift trucks with Motorola RD500 RFID interrogators. Third-party logistics providers each have a Motorola handheld reader provided by the automotive manufacturer. All reusable containers and pallets are tagged with UHF EPC Gen 2 RFID tags encoded with a unique ID number.
Initially, Continental sends one of its logistics providers a shipping request for specific items. That order is linked to a designated container's ID number in Continental's SAP ERP system. Employees at the third-party logistics provider pick the items requested, then load them into that particular tote. After the container is filled, its tag is scanned with a handheld interrogator, and the tag's unique ID number is transmitted via a wireless connection over BizTalk Server to the SAP system, using Clarity RTI software.
Once the tote tag is scanned, Continental knows the items are packed in the container and en route. If pallets are used as well, in situations in which a top and bottom pallet will better keep the tote's contents contained, a tag is attached to one of the pallets. That tag is then scanned and linked to the tote's RFID tag.
When the container arrives by truck at Continental's Huntsville facility, a worker uses an RFID-enabled forklift to unload it. During that process, the forklift reader captures the container tag's ID number and transmits it, via a Wi-Fi connection to the Clarity AGR software—which also links the ID number to the materials order—to the SAP system, thus indicating the tote has arrived.
The SAP system stores not only the container data but also the location within the manufacturing facility where that container should be put away—whether in a selected rack or mini-load Automated Storage and Retrieval System (AS/RS). The Clarity AGR software then sends that location information to the forklift interrogator, which displays it on a screen on the forklift for the driver to read. In this way, the driver can save time otherwise spent looking for a location for each container.
When a tote is put away in the mini-load AS/RS, it travels down a conveyor belt and passes an Alien Technology ALR-9900 Enterprise RFID reader, which captures the container's tag ID number and forwards it to the Clarity RTI software, confirming that the pieces are going into the mini-load AS/RS. When a container's contents are all used in the assembly of electronic components, the empty tote is then sent to be cleaned and passes another ALR-9900 Enterprise reader. This prompts the system to decommission the container and change its status to empty before it is returned to the third-party logistics provider.
The challenge in this system, according to Rick Koskella, Xterprise's account manager, involved finding RFID tags that would read properly on the plastic containers, which contain carbon fiber, intended to reduce electrostatic charge to the electronics housed within. The fiber, Koskella says, acts similarly to metal, making it difficult to read the tags. To solve the problem, Xterprise utilized William Frick and Co.'s custom-built tags, that included a layer of foam backing between the tote and the UPM Raflatac RFID inlay contained within the tag.
Continental Automotive's implementation is the first to use radio frequency identification with MS BizTalk Server 2006 R2, Andaluz says, though he adds, "We have others underway." Six weeks prior to going live, Koskella says, the research team put the system through acceptance testing to ensure every tag is readable. The system now works with a 100 percent read rate, he claims.
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Initially, Continental sends one of its logistics providers a shipping request for specific items. That order is linked to a designated container's ID number in Continental's SAP ERP system. Employees at the third-party logistics provider pick the items requested, then load them into that particular tote. After the container is filled, its tag is scanned with a handheld interrogator, and the tag's unique ID number is transmitted via a wireless connection over BizTalk Server to the SAP system, using Clarity RTI software.
Once the tote tag is scanned, Continental knows the items are packed in the container and en route. If pallets are used as well, in situations in which a top and bottom pallet will better keep the tote's contents contained, a tag is attached to one of the pallets. That tag is then scanned and linked to the tote's RFID tag.
When the container arrives by truck at Continental's Huntsville facility, a worker uses an RFID-enabled forklift to unload it. During that process, the forklift reader captures the container tag's ID number and transmits it, via a Wi-Fi connection to the Clarity AGR software—which also links the ID number to the materials order—to the SAP system, thus indicating the tote has arrived.
The SAP system stores not only the container data but also the location within the manufacturing facility where that container should be put away—whether in a selected rack or mini-load Automated Storage and Retrieval System (AS/RS). The Clarity AGR software then sends that location information to the forklift interrogator, which displays it on a screen on the forklift for the driver to read. In this way, the driver can save time otherwise spent looking for a location for each container.
When a tote is put away in the mini-load AS/RS, it travels down a conveyor belt and passes an Alien Technology ALR-9900 Enterprise RFID reader, which captures the container's tag ID number and forwards it to the Clarity RTI software, confirming that the pieces are going into the mini-load AS/RS. When a container's contents are all used in the assembly of electronic components, the empty tote is then sent to be cleaned and passes another ALR-9900 Enterprise reader. This prompts the system to decommission the container and change its status to empty before it is returned to the third-party logistics provider.
Continental Automotive's implementation is the first to use radio frequency identification with MS BizTalk Server 2006 R2, Andaluz says, though he adds, "We have others underway." Six weeks prior to going live, Koskella says, the research team put the system through acceptance testing to ensure every tag is readable. The system now works with a 100 percent read rate, he claims.
