Kumho Tire Factory uses RFID system to ensure that the use of rubber materials conforms to the first-in first-out principle
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South Korean tire manufacturer Kumho Tire is using passive UHF RFID tags to track the consumption of rubber materials at its two assembly plants. The RFID solution is provided by Qbit, which can improve efficiency, better manage rubber materials and ensure that the use of rubber materials follows the first-in-first-out (FIFO) principle, so that the rubber materials are consumed before their shelf life. The system has been installed in the Gwangju and Gokseung plants in South Korea, and the company will install this system in several other plants in the next two years.
The company reported that the system has played a big role by improving efficiency and reducing waste of expired rubber materials.
Kumho Tire manufactures both Kumho and Marshal tires, and has multiple factories in South Korea, China and Vietnam. According to the report, the company is the ninth largest tire manufacturer in the world.
In 2013, Kumho Tire’s Gwangju and Gokseung plants began to attach passive UHF RFIS tags to bus and truck tires for inventory management and logistics management in distribution centers.
At that time, the company only wanted to track inventory levels and work-in-progress of rubber materials. Therefore, the company needs a real-time location system (RTLS) covering 200,000 square meters. This requires more expensive battery-powered RFID tags, rather than the low-cost passive UHF RFID tags that the company wants to use.
According to a Kumho Tire employee, the company started looking for a passive system that could provide a certain level of real-time location tracking. He said: “Except for the Mojix STAR RFID technology provided by Qbit, there is no RTLS system that uses passive RFID technology on the market.”
The rubber material of the tire production line has a certain useful life-if it is not used within a specific warranty period, the quality of the material will decline. A Kumho Tire spokesperson said: “These materials will be discarded after the expiration date.” Therefore, the company hopes that the use of rubber materials will follow the first-in first-out principle. Qbit CEO ChongWoo Kim said: “This can prevent material waste and improve tire quality.”
The selection of RFID solutions took the company several years. The company tried this solution in a factory. The company used the solution to track shelves containing rubber materials and determine the batch information of these materials. The company attached UHF RFID tags provided by South Korean RFID tag company Exax to the cardboard on the rubber material shelf. The results of the pilot show that the receiver used to read the unknown data from the tag works well.
This year, 18 STAR receivers and more than 2,000 Mojix reader antennas were installed in each of the two factories. The company inserted a cardboard with RFID tags on each rubber material shelf. At the same time, RFID tags are attached to each trailer used to transport tires.
The company’s server also hosts Qbit software, which is used to store information related to RFID tag binding. Each cardboard label will be bound to the manufacturing time and shelf life of the rubber material. Mojix eNodes will transmit tag ID number information within range. The antenna connected to the receiver captures the tag signal and transmits the data to the software to indicate the location of the tag in real time.
When the rubber material rack is moved to the manufacturing area, the receiver will read the tag data and calculate the location information. Then, the company knows when it needs to supply materials.
When assembling, the rubber material will be placed on the rfid cart. In this way, when the cart arrives at each station, the Mojix system will read the label information, so that the company can know the assembly status and provide suggestions for material replenishment.
Thanks to the use of this system, the company reduced the waste of expired materials and improved the quality of its products.
(Exclusive manuscript of rfid world network, please indicate the source author for reprinting!)
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