Feb 16, 2007Canadian heavy-haul trailer manufacturer Peerless is using a real-time location system (RTLS) to help track the time it takes to assemble, sandblast and paint two types of its logging trailers—a 20-wheeled B-Train, which features two connected trailers, and a 16-wheeled Quad Axel logger.
Peerless is a wholly owned subsidiary of McCoy Corp., a Canadian provider of products and services to the transportation industry. Last summer, the company began installing RFind Systems' RTLS at its plant in Penticton, British Columbia. The system was intended to support a new lean manufacturing initiative the company began when it was acquired by McCoy Corp. The goal of the lean manufacturing model is to create a production environment driven by demand that holds only a small amount of inventory and products at any given time.
RFind, based in Kaleden, British Columbia, provides an RFID-based RTLS called TAQnav (an abbreviation for "tag acquisition query navigation"). Its active Talon tags operate at 915 MHz and can be read from up to 750 feet away. Pivotal to TAQnav is the system's ability to create a mesh network of RFind active tags, which communicate with each other and a nearby gateway via a proprietary air-interface protocol. A tag can be configured to asset mode and affixed to an asset so it can be tracked, or it can be set to locator mode and attached to a stationary object to act as an interrogator.
Talon tags affixed to assets communicate with the fixed locator tags to gather signal data. The asset tags then send that data, along with the tag's unique ID number, battery life and other pertinent information, to the nearest RFind Gateway. The Gateway shares its data with RFind's Expeditor 2-D software, a Microsoft Windows-based application that calculates each asset tag's location to within 5 to 7 feet, using algorithms based on the tag's signal strength. The software can also create reports so customers can track and trend data collected from the tags.
Last summer, Peerless installed locator tags in the concrete flooring of several workstations within its pilot lean manufacturing line, drilling holes about 2 inches deep and 2 inches wide to accommodate the hockey-puck-sized Talon tags, says Dave Tulloch, Peerless' operations manager. The decision to install the tags in-ground was made to protect them. "The environment we're in is hostile," says Tulloch, "and you can't just have one of these tags sitting on the floor, where someone might kick it or drop something on it."
Peerless affixes asset tags, via a magnetic backing, to the trailers' core components (such as wheels and I-beams). As such, each trailer can be tracked as it moves through the lean manufacturing assembly line. The purpose, says Tulloch, is to measure what's known as Takt time—a lean manufacturing metric used to determine the pace of production needed to meet customer demand. "Takt time is the heartbeat of a production cell," Tulloch says.
RFind's system is helping Peerless document, in real-time, how quickly or slowly production is progressing. Using RFind's software, Peerless can create reports and statistical analysis to identify production delays.
"It is a great tool for our production foreman," Tulloch says. "He can tell how each job is progressing, and compare the progression with the actual production plan," Tulloch says.
Peerless is employing RFID for only a small fraction of the trailers it makes, but the company hopes to extend the system to all of its manufacturing operations. It also intends to integrate RFind's system with its own manufacturing system software, then make tracking information available to customers via a Web site. "The customer will be able to log into the system," Tulloch says, "and find out where their order is at any given time within the manufacturing process."
Terry Rachwalski, RFind's VP of sales and marketing, says a deployment such as Peerless' costs under $50,000. Peerless, however, has not yet determined the return on investment it is getting from its RFID deployment because the system hasn't been running long enough for the company to quantify its ROI.
