Endwave adopts RFID system to improve the visibility of WIP manufacturing
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Endwave Defense Systems, a manufacturer of amplifiers, transceivers, and other RF communication modules for the aerospace and defense forces, is now using RFID technology to monitor the status of work-in-progress in a 2,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in California to improve production visibility.
From receiving the module order to the final inspection before the product is shipped, by tracking each component box, Endwav not only understands the location of the ordered product in the manufacturing process, the time at these locations, and the person in charge of processing. ; It can also know whether the product has been sent back to the previous workbench for reprocessing, or the processing time on a workbench has been delayed. The company tried this RFID system at the end of 2007 and officially launched the system in the manufacturing plant in February this year.
When Endwave received an order, the workers packed all the components needed for the manufacture of this product in a plastic box (the size of the box ranges from half a shoe box to three shoe boxes). The workers send the plastic boxes to a loading room and place them on a shelf to wait for processing. After processing, the employees then put the controller back into the plastic box and send it to the next assembly room. The plastic box will pass through up to 5 independent assembly rooms.
Once the product is all processed, it must go through a quality inspection process such as visual inspection and physical testing before being sent to the customer. However, large manufacturing plants have hundreds of products in production at any time; during this process, if a customer requests an order to be updated, then employees must go to the processing site to search for the correct plastic box.
With the processing system designed by Omnirol Networks, this process has become much easier, according to David Orain, the company’s deputy head of marketing. Omnitrol installed 12 Motorola XR400 readers on Endwave shelves and other storage points for boxes during the manufacturing process.
Endwave uses Alien Technology’s Squiggle EPC Gen 2 UHF RFID tags on plastic boxes and employee badges. When the company needed a new badge, the employee’s name was entered into an Internet server hosted by Omnirol. Then, Omnirol software instructed Endwave, a Zebra Technologies RFID printer and encoder, to write the RFID label and print the ID code corresponding to the new employee.
When a customer places an order, the employee enters an order code and the required product category into the Omnitrol server, and corresponds these data to a plastic box number. Next, the employee takes an empty plastic box, puts the components needed to manufacture this product, and scans the RFID tag of the box to match the order with the tag ID code. When the plastic box passes through a production room, it is placed on a shelf. The Motorola reader reads the ID code of the plastic box within 2 feet, and then sends the ID code along with the time and date to the Omnitrol application network storage device. The latter collects all the reader data and displays it in the form of a dashboard. On the video monitor or computer screen to which the device is connected.
If a plastic box is left on the shelf for too long, or is not returned after being removed from the shelf, the storage device will send an email to notify the Endwave management staff. Moreover, the reader also reads the ID code of each employee’s badge. Allows the administrator to view the completion records of the order, such as the time when the product is delivered to each storage point and the time when it is placed, the processing personnel and the processing time.
If an unauthorized employee removes the plastic box from the shelf, the reader sends an email alert to the relevant personnel. Similarly, if there is a problem in the manufacturing process and the product must be reprocessed, the manager will also receive the latest location report of the product.
Endwave believes that the use of this RFID system has two major benefits, one is the reduction of labor costs (at least equivalent to a full-time employee), and the other is the improvement of customer satisfaction.
According to Orin, this complete solution costs less than US$100,000 and includes software, RFID readers, printers, installation and training.
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