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With the development of the automobile industry, how the logistics system of auto parts companies responds to the increasing production capacity of OEMs and the complex and diverse product requirements are serious issues facing our parts manufacturers. At the same time, with the rapid development of the Internet of Things, the maturity of RFID technology provides new solutions for data collection in the supply chain, and more and more auto parts companies apply RFID technology to the logistics and supply chain fields. For example, ThyssenKrupp, the world’s largest supplier of auto parts, has adopted an overall solution for auto parts tracking based on RFID technology, which includes three aspects: automatic data collection, item tracking, and item management. This article takes E company as a case to discuss the application of RFID technology in the logistics system of auto parts enterprises, hoping to bring us a reference.
E company’s in-plant logistics problem
Company E was established in Detroit, USA in 1917 to provide customers with complete car seat and electrical management system solutions and products. In 2010, it achieved net sales of US$9.7 billion. Entered China in 1993, mainly to provide supporting services such as car seats for BMW. In 2012, the output of 110,000 sets of seats has been achieved. According to customer needs, the company’s output has gradually increased. In 2013, the daily output increased from 424 units/day in 2012 to 575 units/day. In 2014, it will achieve 675 units/day, with an annual output of 200,000 sets, and the output will nearly double in two years. At the same time, the external warehouse leased by E company was cancelled by the head office in order to save costs. The customer requested that all imported raw materials with a 14-day safety stock must be transferred to the existing warehouse in the factory. Due to the limited space in the factory, the inventory space of domestic parts can only be reduced by increasing the frequency of domestic parts arrival. This requires E company’s in-plant logistics efficiency to be greatly improved.
Company E currently has an assembly line, 3 shifts a day, 24 hours a day, uninterrupted assembly of car seats, of which the west side door is the receiving port, the east side is the finished product storage area and delivery door, and the middle is the production line. The logistics basically flows from west to east. The raw material inventory of imported parts in the factory is 14 days, and the raw material of domestic parts is 3 days. According to the size and objective requirements of the parts, the local inventory is divided into 4-24 hours. All parts identification methods are paper barcode scanning.
In the current logistics system based on bar code technology, in-plant logistics are mainly divided into inbound logistics, production logistics, and factory logistics, which are closely related to three links.
1) Inbound logistics: In the inbound logistics, the consignee checks the actual goods according to the delivery receipt with the goods, including whether the goods arrive accurately and the quantity of the goods. If it is confirmed that it is correct, print the E company’s internal bar code sheet according to the ASN (an encoding format) data and paste it on the surface of the goods. The logistics personnel send the goods to the agreed storage location based on their experience, and input the storage location information into the portable scanner.
2) Production logistics: the batching personnel carry out the batching according to the safety stock requirements of the materials beside the line. For JIT (just in time) parts, find the warehouse location according to experience and deliver them to the side of the line. As for the JIS (Sequenced Production) parts that need to be sorted, the batcher uses the ERP system to print the batching list according to the planned production sequence, and batches according to the prescribed order on the batching list.
3) Factory logistics: For JIS suppliers, there are relatively few finished products, but because of the sorting requirements, it is necessary to be able to quickly and accurately find the finished products required by the order when shipping. After the finished product is shipped, it is also necessary to make a library record in the system to avoid the situation of inflated inventory in the system.
In many years of operation, E company found that the following problems often occur:
a. The inventory of the parts system does not match the physical object: it often happens that there is inventory in the computer system, but the physical object cannot be found in the warehouse;
b. The batching speed is slow: due to the three shifts of warehouse staff, the batching staff cannot find the material in the first time due to various reasons, causing production risks;
c. Slow delivery speed: the receiver needs to check and enter the system according to the paper documents provided by the delivery person, which is labor-intensive and prone to human negligence;
d. Materials cannot be first-in-first-out: Because the bar code does not provide the production date of the material, the batcher often picks up the material nearby, which easily causes the old parts to be sluggish for a long time and cannot meet the quality standards; it is also impossible to trace the incoming material information;
e. Information flow lags behind logistics: planners cannot track the status of materials in real time, resulting in delayed decision-making.
solution
Due to the limitations of barcode technology, there is insufficient interconnection; untimely and incomplete perception; unable to provide support and services for smart computing. Although the logistics system like E company has been greatly improved compared with the earlier extensive logistics, and takes the initiative in modern logistics, its drawbacks are obvious. If technological innovation is not carried out, it will seriously restrict the production efficiency of the enterprise. The efficiency of the entire supply chain.
In view of the various problems mentioned above, considering that the technical limitations of the barcode technology itself can no longer meet the actual requirements, E company decided to introduce RFID technology in the supply chain. Liaise with suppliers to establish RFID technical standards, so that incoming materials can carry unified standard electronic tags; add RFID equipment within the company, and make overall plans for RFID network construction and related hardware. And add RFID corresponding software module to the company’s unified QAD system (an ERP system) to integrate it with the production information flow. And to train company employees.
After the introduction of RFID, the logistics business process was reconstructed according to the logistics model in the E factory.
(1) Inbound logistics
The new logistics management system requires all suppliers to carry uniform RFID tags in their standard packages, and the IT department will uniformly allocate unique identification codes and coding methods for suppliers, parts, and delivery batches. Company E sets up an RFID reader at the receiving port. When the goods enter the gate of the plant, the RFID tag information is automatically read. First, it is compared with the ASN information set by the material planner in the system. If there is a difference, contact the planner immediately for verification. Reasons for parts differences; no differences are directly received into the system. Since a certain number of readers have been arranged in the warehouse, it can be identified seamlessly. Therefore, the goods do not need to be stored in designated locations, and the forklift can store the goods on the three-dimensional shelves according to the principle of being nearby and expeditiously. This setting saves the traditional receivers from ordering and inspecting the goods, greatly saving the time of receiving the goods, reducing the waiting time of the supplier’s delivery truck, and improving the turnover rate of the receiving port.
(2) Production logistics
According to the company’s self-developed JIS system, the batcher will import the customer’s needs into the system in advance, and the batcher will batch in advance according to the production rhythm of the production line. Among them, the raw materials are divided into JIT parts such as seat belts, airbags, and headrests, as well as sorted parts such as skins, foams, and mechanism skeletons. For non-sequencing parts, the batcher determines whether to replenish materials according to the Kanban next to the production line and the maximum and minimum inventory next to the production line. When determining the ingredients, large parts such as institutions and skeletons will be directly placed in the designated position according to the shift, and the ingredients can be selected. For non-sorted ingredients, the ingredients staff will first go to the small supermarket to select them.It should be noted that the factory does not open the label package and puts it on the high-rise shelf directly. When the small supermarket inventory is less than the minimum safety stock, the batching staff shall carryReaderEnter the part number, you can connect to the terminal, read and write information according to the RFID, find the position of the required part package on the high-level shelf. RFID is used as the unique identification information before the parts arrive in the small-item supermarket. Once the parts are unpacked, they are identified according to the built-in barcode, including subsequent production line scans and online. So unpacking is the point of distinction between RFID and barcode. Since you can see information such as the time of entry into the factory when you select the whole package of parts at the terminal, it also solves the FIFO (First in first out) problem that has plagued E company for many years.
(3) Factory logistics
In the past, finished products were stored according to the order of production offline, and production personnel placed them according to their experience. The identification of the seat depends on the barcode information of the finished turnover car as the only identification. However, if customers skip orders for goods, the shipper often needs to find finished products in a full inventory area, which is a huge waste of manpower and time, and barcodes are also easy to lose. When shipping, the shipper needs to scan the barcode on the packing list for packing verification (ensure that the seats are installed on the correct turnover cart) and loading verification (ensure that the seats are installed in the customer’s needs and order to be loaded into the shipping vehicle ). Through the application of RFID information technology, a portable RFID tag will be attached to the finished seat when it is off the assembly line, so that through the readers all over the factory, the information and location of the finished seat can be accurately identified. When loading is required, the shipper can Find the position of the seat directly according to the portable reader. The reader placed at the door of the shipment can accurately read each seat that has been moved out of the factory to enter the delivery vehicle, so as to automatically complete the packing check and the loading check. Greatly save shipping time.
Effectiveness analysis
In the past, the traditional process required workers to work overtime to complete the work within the shift, but now the RFID system can be used to complete the work within a fixed time, indicating that the work efficiency has been greatly improved, and the effectiveness of RFID is proved. The specific results of RFID applications are summarized in the following tables.
The performance comparison between RFID-based and barcode-based logistics systems is shown in the following table:
|
Performance parameter |
Barcode technology |
Based on RFID |
|
Information collection ability |
Unable to uniquely identify the object, poor real-time performance |
Unique identification of the object, real-time feedback on-site data |
|
Can visually monitor |
no |
can |
|
Timeliness of management information release |
In hours and days |
In seconds |
|
Production guidance accuracy |
Errors often occur |
Seldom errors |
|
Operational guidance specification |
irregular |
Standardized guidance |
As can be seen from this table, based onRFIDThe logistics system of the company can identify and track each target, and can collect and track the material flow in real time and accurately; at the same time, the data can be analyzed and sorted and fed back to the management staff to monitor the production status and logistics flow, so as to realize the whole Visual monitoring and management of the production process.
Through the analysis of the current logistics system and business process, E company reorganized the in-plant logistics information system, and most of the problems encountered in actual production have been resolved. Several important changes are shown in the table below.
|
Before RFID introduction |
After RFID import |
|
Manually use Office software to decompose the plan, and use Email or telephone to send library instructions to the supplier |
The system automatically obtains the plan from the system of the OEM, and automatically decomposes it into a detailed bill of materials, and the lower-level suppliers receive orders through the RFID system |
|
Paste the part information card and ingredient card on the parts packaging according to the process requirements |
The supplier affixes the electronic label to identify the goods throughout the process |
|
Record the actual performance in the system by scanning the parts list, the shipping material list and the ingredient card when entering and leaving the warehouse |
When entering and leaving the warehouse, the actual performance is automatically recorded in the system through the RFID system installed at the warehouse gate |
|
The location of the parts in the warehouse and the name and quantity of the parts in the ingredients are confirmed by manual visual inspection |
The system automatically arranges the parts to be put into the storage location, confirms the storage location through RFID, and uses the RFID handheld reader to check the part information when preparing the goods |
|
System efficiency is very slow, a lot of waiting waste is generated, and it is difficult to deal with sudden situations |
The hardware system prompts, the operation speed is accelerated, the work efficiency is greatly improved, and the emergency response time is reduced |
Many problems that have plagued the company in many years of practical operation have also been solved in the application of RFID. The following table shows the solutions to various problems after they are introduced into the system.
|
problem |
solution |
|
Missing documents, inconsistent material and documents |
Put an end to paper delivery notes, enter data in real time through the RFID system, the system compares the RFID electronic tag data with the plan, and alarms for abnormal situations |
|
Arrival delay |
Combine RFID and GPS to track parts in transit, understand the cause of delay, and prevent upstream |
|
Production and material plan changes |
The supplier is responsible for marking the planned change information in the RFID tag, simplifying the storage procedures |
|
Unplanned arrival, wrong receipt |
Do not collect parts that cannot be identified by RFID and items that arrive at the factory without purchase order information, and prevent mis-receiving from the root cause |
|
Part location errors and batching errors caused by people |
Use RFID handheld reader to confirm location and part information |
The application of RFID has also greatly improved E company’s operating efficiency and customer satisfaction rate, as shown in the following table.
In short, E company introduced RFID technology into the logistics system, so that all kinds of problems under the traditional model were solved, the work process was better optimized, and the work efficiency of workers was also greatly improved.
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