RFID Arrives on the Loading Dock; In-Plant Use to Come More Slowly

RFID has been around for some time. It is used in a variety of fields from medical environments and many product areas to shipping and logistics. Basically, RFID involves attaching or embedding a computer chip on parts, which can be tracked.

Supply-chain pressures, in fact, are pushing wood sector RFID acceptance on the loading dock.

The rate of adoption for other wood plant operations is not clear. It appears to be slow, but varies among wood sectors and from manufacturer to manufacturer. There is interest, but it’s not likely to replace bar codes in full-plant use anytime soon.

Still, there are wood product manufacturers and equipment suppliers running pilot studies on full-plant RFID implementation. Reports on these field tests should be available by year-end.

The technology itself is “ready.” The basic message, with RFID as with other technologies, is to do what works for your business.

Return on investment for RFID “is geared around the increasing level of information you have about a product, and getting it without added labor,” says Jerry McCall, software manager for Stiles Machinery.

No technology is a panacea. It’s how you deploy it to your benefit that matters
Russ Kahn, manager of manufacturing services for 20-20 Virtual Systems

The best reason for adopting RFID, or for that matter any new technology, should be improvement in throughput, quality of service, and on-time delivery

As a material, wood is especially RFID-friendly, and the equipment can be shielded from stray electronic noise flitting around the shop. Recent upgrades have enhanced reader-tag compatibility.

Still, RFID requires significant upfront analysis and care in designing the system and in implementation. And while prices are coming down fairly quickly, costs are still higher than bar code technologies and materials.

“The initial capital expenditure will be some percentage higher than bar codes,” says Kahn. “But how do you put a price on close to 100 percent accuracy? You have to look at the ongoing benefit. It will show up on the bottom line because your factory is running more smoothly and you have the opportunity to correct mistakes because you know what and where they are.”

RFID, Kahn says, “answers the real question: How do know what you don’t know?”

Making the decision

RFID and bar codes aren’t an either/or choice. Each has its advantages and disadvantages in wood shops and plants. They can be combined in a hybrid approach for directing and managing plant operations. Companies can use what works best for them where it works best.

Stiles focuses on what McCall describes as the “middleware that’s trying to do the legwork for our customers.”

In effect, “RFID is a supporting technology. It’s one of the ways I can pull data into the system,” he says. “RFID is an input our customers can use.” The reader sends data to the Stiles iConnect server, which sends it on to the machine.

Unlike bar codes, which must be on the surface of a part, product or shipping container, RFID chips can be read through wood and shipping boxes. They are visible to the reader even if they’re inside a bin or buried in a board and invisible to the humans in the plant.

Information from the tag can be carried and read throughout the plant and to the loading dock. “You can still read it when it’s boxed. You can generate a label from inside the box,” McCall says.

RFID’s advantages center on its ability to deliver accurate information in real time. It can hold more data than bar codes, and it allows plants to avoid marking the surface of a product or part.

“You can find problems earlier in the process than you can manually,” McCall says.

Also, by automating the reading, RFID eliminates the human error that enters the process with the manual scanning needed with bar codes.

RFID’s ability to embed data is nice, but the key benefit is to ensure that what gets embedded happens without human intervention. I always know that no matter what happens, I have the most up-to-date information on a part in my system
Russ Kahn

RFID gives our customers more access to the data we make available

RFID can help improve JIT processes, customer service and on-time delivery.

Lean operations in particular can benefit. “You have less room for error because you’re only making what you need,” Kahn says. “You need to recover quickly.”

Real-time data may be less critical in stock plants holding a lot of inventory. Stock producers can use RFID to quickly locate tagged parts during production and get them to where they’re needed.

No Need to Rush

Supply-chain pressure from the likes of Wal-Mart and other retailers, helped by technological advances, is forcing adoption of RFID at the loading dock.

The biggest benefit is at the shippable unit level, not in individual parts
Jerry McCall, software manager for Stiles Machinery 

But companies can incorporate RFID in steps or stages, depending on their needs at different points in the production process or in shipping. “Plants shouldn’t feel they have to implement everything at once,” Kahn says. “We take a modular approach. The software and hardware technologies are flexible. You can imple- ment the critical areas and processes first.”

Given the demands from the retail end, it makes sense to start with shipping and move backward. The assembly stage, with the product ready for shipping, could come next. By the time the product gets to this point, Kahn says, “there’s a lot more flexibility with how you attach RFID so it’s not invasive to the product.”

The point, he says, is to “use it where the real-time information about work or a part benefits you the most. Start at the dock. Swallow the biggest problem first. If it didn’t get on the truck, that’s your biggest problem.”

Implementing RFID

“It’s a higher level of automation, and a higher level of automation requires more sensors and systems to support it. It’s more than reading tags. You need a work-flow model to compare it against,” McCall says.

Basic equipment includes the hardware for burning data, the readers (fixed and hand-held), and antennas and other equipment for shielding and routing the signals, along with the tags.

Software is readily available, in stand-alone packages and increasingly as additional capabilities in enterprise and design packages. inSight, 20-20 Virtual Systems’ enterprise package, “can carry a lot more data than what a bar code can hold” Kahn says.

Integrating RFID into the plant is central, and a site survey is necessary for this, says McCall. Site surveys can determine where electronic and radio “noise” is coming from in particular conditions. Antenna arrays are then designed to shield readers and other RFID equipment as needed.

Then, since basic RFID is a passive technology, some additional planning and equipment is needed. Motion sensors make sure the reader is functioning, verify that the tags are read, and that the parts go through each station.

“Am I getting read at each operation? Are the same number of tags getting read at each stage and going out the shipping door?” McCall questions.

Stiles is also working on a system using an active RFID tag with a built-in motion sensor tagging and reading transportation devices within the factory. “It can pinpoint a location within a factory within 3 ft. — a cart, for example — and see where a part is in real time, and then route it where it’s needed,” McCall says.

Stiles demonstrated the technology at IWF in 2006. “You know where everything is. It reduces the amount of time locating what’s needed,” says McCall. This active RFID format, he says, could be adopted more quickly than the passive systems.

There could be some physical limits to attaching the RFID chip to individual parts. The chip can’t be on the surface of a part as it goes through machining and finishing processes, and end consumers won’t want to see it on their living room furniture or kitchen cabinets.

“The label can travel on the same hook and then be pulled off and attached to the door after the finishing process,” Kahn says.

This is done with bar codes, he notes. Suppliers and manufacturers are trying dif- ferent ways of attaching the tags. They could be inserted in a slot in a door or part, McCall says, or laminated between the board and laminate during the laminating process.