Minera Norge uses RFID technology to track large cargo in polar climates
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Minera Norge is a Norwegian manufacturer that specializes in the manufacture of slate tiles, and mainly provides building materials for the production of roofs and floors of houses, and the factory has used RFID technology to track large cargoes in polar climates, unprecedented in history.
The company’s main production line (including a 20,000-square-meter warehouse) is located in Oppdal, a mountain city in Norway, and most of the factory’s working hours are exposed to the freezing winter. The challenges they face are the same as in other industries: “How to use effective and accurate methods to track pallets carrying slates, identify each product under different weather conditions, accurately grasp inventory status, and control the production speed and transportation process in real time to reduce cargo Transportation error”.
In the polar climate, general technology may not be able to overcome the severe cold weather, but RFID is the only tracking and identification system that can operate in this polar climate.
In this case, Minera sought technical support from ACT System Skandinavia, a solution system provider, to develop identification and tracking equipment for it. ACT recommended that Minera use RFID identification technology, and this RFID system must operate normally in any weather in the polar regions, even if the reading source carriage is covered by snow at a height of one meter, it must be able to receive the signal. After measuring the environmental conditions, ACT designed a system to track the delivery process of the pallets with the uploaded goods to the customers. The corners of the trays are embedded with UPM Raflatac’s second-generation UHF Gen 2 RFID tags (UHF Gen 2 RFID). Each tag has an identification number to help Minera control all the trays.
The RFID system controlled by ACT’s Super DAGFII software is linked with the VISM ERP system (Enterprise resource planning) used by Minera, and the data read from the RFID can be transferred to the ERP, and then it can be recalled immediately The orders that have not been assembled can be seen by the production staff on the nearby touch screen for order processing. On the pallet conveyor belt, Intermec’s IF61 RFID reader is connected to the scale to calculate the weight of the pallet and the load; after the calculation is completed, the weight and the label code of the pallet will be recorded in the software together. Next, the second identification label will be affixed to the wrapping film packaged on the outside of the pallet. It can prevent the label from falling off the pallet and make it unreadable, and it can also be used as a reading code for identifying customer orders.
In the container yard, Intermec’s IV7 reader and Haicom’s HI-204III USB GPS satellite repeater were installed on two forklift trucks in the container yard. The data read will not only be displayed on the truck The screen assists the driver in identifying the correct cargo and allows the ACT software to track the correct position of the pallet being moved. Once the lifter drops the goods, the RFID reader will disconnect, the software can record the position of the pallet unloaded accordingly, and the GPS will lead the driver to the next pallet position to be moved. The plan took six months from conception to implementation, and it was not officially implemented until May 2009.
This system allows Minera to effectively identify each cargo under different weather conditions, and can also accurately grasp the inventory quantity in real time, speeding up the speed of warehouse management and delivery. In addition, RFID has also stimulated the potential of employees to make their work more efficient; production personnel receive orders that have not yet been processed from the touch screen, and they can order the materials needed for the order by tapping the screen with a chisel in their hands. . Every stone cutting machine on the production line has an ID card embedded with UHF RFID, allowing employees to enter the ERP system to check the progress of order processing, so as to check their own work progress.
Although this system has achieved amazing results, there are still challenges that have nothing to do with weather that need to be overcome: avoiding the reader and antenna installed on the rack from metal interference caused by the rack, and preventing the reader from being shoveled Destroyed. The reader is very sensitive to metal, and once it is hit by a stone, it will never be broken and cannot be read. The only solution is to drill the entire RFID device into an isolated hole in the bracket, which will not affect the effect, but also avoid damage.
Minera and ACT have worked closely to develop an RFID identification system that can withstand any weather conditions, making work execution more convenient.
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