RFID for Manufacturing
Industrial Processes
RFID for Manufacturing enhances asset availability and data collection in even the most difficult industrial processes, including cataphoresis, cleaning, degreasing, galvanizing, sandblasting, composites, injection molding, die casting, machining, and 3D printing.
RFID tags for Manufacturing are being used beyond the supply chain to enable tracking parts and managing assets using rugged industrial RFID tags, readers, and sensors designed to gather the data that production systems require.
RFID has long been used in business operations to help with intralogistics inventory management and create greater transparency. While outdated production systems still rely on paperwork and spreadsheets, others have experimented with barcodes only to discover their limitations in terms of scalability and automation.
5 Use Cases of RFID Tracking Systems for Industrial Processes in Manufacturing
THE CHALLENGES OF RFID TRACKING FOR INDUSTRIAL PROCESSES
-
Industrial processes mean high temperatures, starting in the 55-110C range for cooking, pressurization, and sterilization. Temperatures up to 160C are common for industrial distillation and kilning, while chemicals are in the 90-200C range.
-
Industrial processes are complex, with Paint Shop operations, for instance, involving Temperature cycling, Water immersion, Jets, Caustic chemicals, Pressure, Shocks, Vibrations...
-
Manufacturing systems such as Automation, Just-In-Time, and their Software depend on accurate data, which calls for industry-grade reliability and performance.
-
Proprietary equipment and processes require solutions to be customizable, with the capacity to develop innovative form factors, materials, and tagging systems.
-
Deployment in the field involves thorough testings and qualification.
BUILDING TRACKING SYSTEMS FOR INDUSTRIAL RFID
Paperwork, spreadsheets, and barcodes are holding back production systems when it comes to automation, scalability, and durability. Specialized Industrial RFID components are available to enable tracking parts in manufacturing, as well as asset management and production monitoring.
-
Hi-Temp - Survivability in extreme temperatures is critical. Rugged high-temp RFID tags surviving up to 250C are readily available. For anything above, the smart option is using tags that are easy to remove or replace.
-
Complexity - Industrial processes come with complex parameters: Paint shops for instance involve a varying mix of temperatures, immersions, jets, chemicals, pressure, shocks, and vibrations.
-
Disposable - Find the perfect balance between durable and disposable, e.g.: High-spec reusable tags on Paint Shop skids and conveyors, or disposable labels staying with each component throughout its manufacturing workflow.
-
Qualification - Qualifying new systems for industrial processes takes time. Using pre-qualified components and involving experienced partners will accelerate the testing phase.
-
Customization - Manufacturing relies on proprietary methods and equipment, making customization capabilities a requirement: Software, readers, tags form factors, mounting options, and materials.
-
Interoperable - RFID tracking systems are designed to give real-time data with the accuracy and dependability required for automation, just-in-time, and custom manufacturing.
Xerafy is working with production engineers and R&D teams to provide expert guidance on the best software and hardware for scalable and high-performance systems with RFID for Manufacturing. Automotive production provides a wide range of examples of RFID tracking with tags to capture data on the assembly line, in specialized workshops, and on the shop floor.
Xerafy offers a wide range of on metal RFID tags as well as embeddable versions for use in metal, with a service bureau available for printing, marking, encoding, and custom-building.
RFID FOR PAINT SHOPS
Tracking doesn’t stop at the Paint Shop: From pre-treatment, through cataphoresis, spray booth, to oven-drying and sandblasting cleaning, RFID tags for Manufacturing enable tracking for parts and their carriers.
The process expertise developed by Xerafy covers a large variety of industrial paint shop processes from automotive to manufacturing. We help them automate across paint types, alkaline and acidic baths, sprays and jets, temperature cycling, cleaning systems for skids, and other critical application parameters.
With a full range of RFID tags engineered for high-resistance industrial tracking systems, Xerafy's tagging solutions reliably identify skids and other conveyors in the paint shop and go through the entire production process: Dip tanks with harsh chemicals and other pre-treatments of the surface, cataphoresis coating (KTL, E-coat), drying in high-temperature ovens, powder coating.
Our tags come with industry-grade mounting options, ensuring each tag is firmly attached to the carrier to provide reliable identification throughout the entire painting process, without identification errors or contamination risks.
TRACKING HI-TEMP PROCESSES
Industrial RFID tags are used in the high-temp processes of Metal foundries, Composite materials, Ceramic, Concrete, Iron and Steel, Pharmaceuticals, Chemicals, among others.
Xerafy's Industrial RFID Tags' superior design allows them to withstand extreme temperatures, moisture, and pressure found in autoclaves, ovens, extrusion equipment, as well as the cleaning regimens they are associated with, without damage or performance degradation.
RFID IN INJECTION MOLDING
Embeddable RFID Tags for Manufacturing are designed to be injection-molded by OEMs and suppliers into their consumables, parts, and systems.
By adding RFID capabilities at point-of-manufacture, they enable the digitization of integrated supply chains with real-time information and added flexibility.
Xerafy pioneered the concept of 'Embeddable RFID', be it in metal or in plastic, and offers a full range of ready-to-use and customizable products.
RFID FOR DIES AND MOLDS
Dies and Molds are essential for manufacturing
and RFID production tracking solutions are available in molding, casting, stamping, and cutting.
RFID tagging helps in the improvement of logistics and warehousing efficiency for all dies, plates, braille, and blades. The primary goal is to maximize availability throughout the lifecycle of the tool, from its warehouse to each manufacturing cell, by providing unique identification and enabling true traceability.
Tire production for instance involves dozens of molds for a given product, making the tracking of molds a question of operational efficiency and protection of key assets. Tracking is also involved in maintenance during the mold's life cycle, which can reach over 30 years in some instances, with cleaning procedures scheduled to take place regularly, involving ovens, lasers, etc.
Likewise, metal foundries require to keep track of each mold to maintain availability throughout the manufacturing workflow.
RFID IN TOOLING
The automotive industry provides examples of manufacturing asset tracking systems applied to tooling equipment.
General Motors has a dedicated team in charge of thousands of tooling equipment involved in the manufacturing of critical components. With tooling distributed across hundreds of sites within a complex production and supply organization, managing tooling equipment has become a key feature of GM suppliers' organization.
