RFID technology is the foundation for building intelligent manufacturing, since the popularization of RFID technology, industrial production lines, retail, logistics, transportation, medical, manufacturing and other fields, RFID applications can be seen. In the field of intelligent manufacturing, RFID technology can help manufacturing enterprises develop various market demand functions to achieve real-time location tracking, product traceability, asset or personnel monitoring, process control on the production line, supply chain management and other applications.
What is the development trend in the field of RFID intelligent manufacturing?
1. Production process management
In the past, the production site of the manufacturing industry had a large proportion of manual intervention, and it was often necessary to manually record a large amount of data, resulting in low accuracy and efficiency. Now manufacturing enterprises use the function of industrial RFID reading and writing equipment information, as long as the RFID reader is set up at the entrance and exit of the production line or the production machine, when the carrier equipped with RFID electronic tag passes, the card reader will automatically read and record the information of the product from entering the workstation to leaving, as well as the specific processing procedures of raw materials, etc., eliminating the process of manual scanning one by one in the past, and greatly reducing labor costs or operation time.
2. Industrial production management
Industrial production management includes many aspects, such as raw material management, production volume and demand management, personnel management, equipment management, product quality management, etc. The role of RFID in these aspects is mainly to provide data support through information collection (including item and personnel identification, location tracking, etc.), so that enterprises can make reasonable production plans in combination with forecasting and decision-making systems.
3. Automatic control of the production process
The degree of automation of the industrial production process reflects the advanced degree of product production process, and the future application of Internet of Things RFID technology in the manufacturing field will be more and more, gradually changing the mode of industrial production, and even replacing manpower to complete high-skill, high-complexity work is not impossible. For example, chip design and optimization, through RFID technology to manage the process program, not only can record the process flow, improve the process accuracy, but also provide a data model for the subsequent refined and automated production of the enterprise.
4. Establish a supply chain sharing mechanism
The establishment of an information sharing mechanism in the upstream and downstream of the supply chain has become the future development trend of intelligent manufacturing. Suppliers can draw up production plans for factories through product logistics and market sales, so as to reduce the inventory of goods and control costs. At every stage of the product from the upstream supplier to the downstream retailer, the flow of goods can be tracked through information sharing, so as to reduce the cost loss caused by misdelivery, theft, damage, etc.
The application of RFID in the manufacturing industry is of great significance, RFID technology for information management, manufacturing execution, quality control, standard compliance, track and trace, asset management, storage capacity visualization and productivity, etc.:
1. Manufacturing information management
Combining RFID with existing manufacturing information systems such as MES, ERP, CRM, and IDM enables a more robust information chain and the timely delivery of accurate data at the right time, resulting in enhanced productivity, improved asset utilization, and higher levels of quality control and various in-line measurements. Often, after acquiring data from RFID, middleware is also needed to process this data and feed it to the manufacturing information system.
2. Manufacturing execution, quality control, and compliance with standards
To support lean manufacturing and production quality control, RFID provides a real-time data stream that is constantly updated. Complementary to MES, RFID provides information that can be used to ensure the proper use of labor, machines, tools, and components, resulting in paperless production and reduced downtime. Furthermore, as materials, components and assemblies pass through the production line, the production process can be controlled, modified or even reorganized in real time to guarantee reliability and high quality.
3. Track & Trace
The growing demand for compliance with FDA quality practices is driving consumer packaging, food and beverage companies to require accurate tracking and tracing of product information throughout their supply chains. In these respects, RFID complements existing MESs, which for most components can already collect information such as product identifiers, time stamps, physical attributes, order numbers, and lot sizes for each process, which can be converted into RFID codes and transmitted to the supply chain, helping manufacturers track and trace the history of their products.
4. Factory asset management
RFID on an asset (device) provides information about its location, availability status, performance characteristics, storage capacity, etc. Based on this information, production processes, maintenance, labor adjustments, etc. help to increase asset value, optimize asset performance and maximize asset utilization. Reduced downtime and more efficient maintenance (planned and unplanned) can positively impact very important manufacturing performance parameters, such as the overall effectiveness of the plant.
5. Visualization of storage volume
As contract manufacturing becomes increasingly important, synchronized supply chains and clear visibility into manufacturing processes are key. RFID is suitable for applications of all sizes, locally or extended to the entire plant. RFID can provide full visibility of incoming materials, WIP, packaging, transportation and warehousing until they are finally sent to the next destination in the supply chain, all of which are related to information management.
With the rapid development of international and domestic industrial manufacturing enterprises and the needs of digital transformation of enterprises, the application of RFID technology in the field of intelligent manufacturing has expanded rapidly, connecting various products and becoming an intelligent and interoperable network.
In the future, the field of intelligent manufacturing will also develop in the direction of networking and intelligence!
