RFID Illuminates Lithuanian Lamp Manufacturer

In Phase 3 of the installation, also deployed in 2009, the company began tagging pallets loaded with raw materials with Omnia Technologies' reusable EPC Gen 2 ultrahigh-frequency (UHF) RFID tags. In this case, when items arrive at the warehouse, workers input data about the material (such as each item's serial number, manufacturer and arrival date) into the computer. The staff attaches a reusable tag to the pallet with adhesive tape, and uses a Wi-Fi-enabled handheld interrogator to capture the tag's ID number, thereby linking it to the material data. When the pallets are taken to the production area, they pass through another CAEN RFID portal. Once the items on the pallet are consumed, the tag is removed from that pallet and reused with another one. The company began with 500 such pallet tags at the end of last year, and has since purchased another 4,000 to track all pallets used for raw materials.

Tomas Girdzevicius, director of UAB Autepra

In addition, the firm installed PCs with handheld readers at the end of each of its 11 assembly lines. When a pallet is loaded at the end of an assembly line, employees conduct an immediate inspection, read the tag attached to one of the boxes on that pallet, input data indicating the pallet has been inspected and loaded, and then send the pallet through the RFID portal and into the warehouse.

Artilux wanted RFID readers that would identify objects within a fairly short distance—2 to 3 meters (7 to 10 feet)—while not capturing stray reads of other pallets in the vicinity. "The main issue with RFID gates was the reading distance," Šetikas says. "The perfect reading is within 2 to 4 meters [7 to 13 feet], but gates also read RFID tags that are further—up to 7 or 8 meters [23 to 26 feet]." For that reason, the company had to adjust the antennas to ensure they did not read items that were not passing through the portals.

Since the system was installed, errors during product loading have been eliminated, Šetikas reports. The shipping process is now faster, he says, and the company has saved some space in the warehouse, since it no longer requires an area to check products as they are received from manufacturing.

"As a first project, it is a great success, and we are satisfied with the results achieved," Šetikas states.