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Honda Italia Shifts Its RFID Deployment Into Second Gear
Containers of components are now fitted with both passive HF tags that support the ISO 15693 standard and offer 1,024 bits of memory, and active UWB tags. The active tags allow operators to easily locate a particular container within the production zone, while the passive tags are used to hold such critical information as the supplier code, part number, lot number and date of production. By tagging containers, Honda Italia can ensure that parts are not mixed up, and that the proper components are installed on the appropriate frames.
In the first step of the production process, workers attach an active RFID tag to the chassis of each motorcycle to be produced, then use a handheld interrogator to save that bike's VIN number onto the tag's memory. The tag transmits its signal every second to the 13 antennas surrounding the 80-meter-long (262-foot-long) production line, which has 38 individual stations at which different production steps are performed.
"From this point on," Coletta says, "we know exactly where the frame is on the production line."
Honda Italia has production lots, or production runs, of 60 units (60 motorbikes, for instance), so it decided to place passive and active tags on only the first and last containers of large parts for each lot (that is, container number 1, which holds a headlight, and container number 60, which holds the last headlight for that lot). All individual containers holding smaller parts, such as 60 cables, are fitted with both a passive and an active tag. These containers are tagged at Honda Italia's warehouse, located in the same industrial area in the city of Atessa as the production facility. Passive tags are linked to active tags in the database. After tagging, the containers are moved to the production facility as required.
When production begins on a new lot, a worker takes one of that lot's tagged containers of components and moves it to the production zone, where the active tag is read automatically. The passive tags are not interrogated in the production zone—they are simply used to store additional information and link that data to the active tags via the database. The company tags containers with active tags so that constant reads help continually confirm that the correct components are being assembled on the proper vehicle. If a worker attempts to bring the wrong active-tagged container to the production line (for instance, the incorrect part for a bike under construction), an alarm will trigger.
As a motorcycle's chassis moves through each production position, employees add components. If shifts change, Coletta says, or if managers suddenly opt to alter production to a different model, the system makes it easier and faster to hand the work over, or to switch production, since managers always know the whereabouts and status of each bike in production. "If we have to produce a different model all of a sudden, we already know which parts are in the production area," he explains. "We only have to go get the missing parts."
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In the first step of the production process, workers attach an active RFID tag to the chassis of each motorcycle to be produced, then use a handheld interrogator to save that bike's VIN number onto the tag's memory. The tag transmits its signal every second to the 13 antennas surrounding the 80-meter-long (262-foot-long) production line, which has 38 individual stations at which different production steps are performed.
"From this point on," Coletta says, "we know exactly where the frame is on the production line."
Honda Italia has production lots, or production runs, of 60 units (60 motorbikes, for instance), so it decided to place passive and active tags on only the first and last containers of large parts for each lot (that is, container number 1, which holds a headlight, and container number 60, which holds the last headlight for that lot). All individual containers holding smaller parts, such as 60 cables, are fitted with both a passive and an active tag. These containers are tagged at Honda Italia's warehouse, located in the same industrial area in the city of Atessa as the production facility. Passive tags are linked to active tags in the database. After tagging, the containers are moved to the production facility as required.
When production begins on a new lot, a worker takes one of that lot's tagged containers of components and moves it to the production zone, where the active tag is read automatically. The passive tags are not interrogated in the production zone—they are simply used to store additional information and link that data to the active tags via the database. The company tags containers with active tags so that constant reads help continually confirm that the correct components are being assembled on the proper vehicle. If a worker attempts to bring the wrong active-tagged container to the production line (for instance, the incorrect part for a bike under construction), an alarm will trigger.
As a motorcycle's chassis moves through each production position, employees add components. If shifts change, Coletta says, or if managers suddenly opt to alter production to a different model, the system makes it easier and faster to hand the work over, or to switch production, since managers always know the whereabouts and status of each bike in production. "If we have to produce a different model all of a sudden, we already know which parts are in the production area," he explains. "We only have to go get the missing parts."
