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Wal-Mart now uses New Jersey ID Systems’ RFID system to track cranes and other vehicles in 12 distribution centers in the United States.
“By adopting this system, Wal-Mart has achieved two main goals,” said Gene Merlo, ID Systems’ Deputy Sales Director in North America. “The system has improved the productivity and vehicle utilization of the distribution center.” Wal-Mart delivered a distribution center in the second half of 2005. The center carried out initial testing, then used the system in several small distribution centers in 2006, and then adopted the system in a larger distribution center last year.
The ID Systems vehicle management system includes a vehicle asset communicator (VAC) embedded with a 915 MHz RFID receiver (battery-powered), and a small computer installed on a crane or other vehicle. VAC uses a dedicated air interface protocol to transmit data to ID Systems receivers, namely wireless asset managers. The receivers are installed everywhere in the distribution center, and the number of installations depends on the size of the distribution center. The wireless asset manager then sends the collected data to the ID Systems software running on the central server via a wireless or wired (Ethernet) connection.
“Figure 1” ID Systems’ wireless asset manager
The software processes the location and sensor data of each tag, and informs the management personnel of the location of the vehicle in the distribution center and the current driving driver, and determines whether the vehicle is transporting freight and whether it needs warranty. The software can also save and aggregate the data of each vehicle, providing visibility into the life cycle of the vehicle.
“Figure 2” ID Systems’ vehicle management system
Merlo said that Wal-Mart drivers must interact with the VAC on the vehicle before driving the vehicle. First, the driver moves his personal badge to VAC. VAC’s RFID reader reads the passive RFID tag in the badge, and then VAC sends the driver’s identity data to the central server, and the system determines whether the driver is authorized to operate the vehicle.
If the driver passes the verification and is the first to drive a certain vehicle in a shift, the VAC screen will instruct the driver to conduct a safety test on the vehicle to see if the vehicle complies with the U.S. Department of Labor’s occupational safety and health management regulations. Part of the detection process is realized by the vehicle engine through programmed diagnosis, and part is manual detection.
When the driver drives the vehicle, the weight sensor connected to the VAC monitors the cargo area of the vehicle. Take a forklift as an example to determine whether the forklift is carrying goods. These Wal-Mart managers can use the collected data to increase productivity.
“If a distribution center has 100 vehicles and 80 drivers have registered vehicles, then the manager knows that 20 vehicles are free,” Menlo said. “Managers can also determine which of the 80 vehicles are transporting goods, which vehicles are idle, and how often employees deliver goods. Managers can compare these data of employees to understand how employees’ work performance can be maximized. utilize resource.
Distribution centers can use this data to reduce the number of vehicles, Menlo said, or to change the way vehicles are used. “Forklift truck prices are between $10,000 and $25,000,” he said. “Effective management can significantly reduce operating costs. Before adopting the vehicle management system, ID Systems said that Wal-Mart used a warehouse management system to monitor the productivity of vehicle operators. However, the system Can’t fully measure the work performance of employees.
According to Menlo, Wal-Mart has conducted a comprehensive test of this management system, including testing in a laboratory environment and an actual distribution center environment. VAC has never been subjected to radio frequency interference from other RFID systems used by Wal-Mart, such as those used in product tracking. EPC Gen 2 hardware, or existing wireless LAN.
ID Systems’ vehicle management system is also used in the U.S. Postal Service.
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