Ortrander steel plant adopts RFID ultra-wideband real-time positioning system
chrispeng [ad_1]
Ortrander Eisenhütte, a steel foundry in Dresden, Germany, now uses an RFID system to track forklifts and containers in the plant. When this system is fully implemented, Ortrander Eisenhütte will use ultra-wideband (UWB) active RFID tags to track 20-30 forklifts, and passive UWB RFID tags to track 10,000 metal crates and their loaded products.
Ortrander casts parts for the automotive and household industries, and its fiscal revenue reached 30 million U.S. dollars last year. During 2001 and 2002, the company invested a huge amount of money to expand its production scale. In 2008, the production volume doubled. In 2007, the company’s management launched a project, hoping to upgrade the company’s material flow, warehousing and information flow to make these processes more transparent and effective, and to better handle high-volume products.
Ortrander Eisenhütte installs RFID tags on 10,000 crates and forklifts
The project includes plans to use RFID to track forklifts and totes. Ortrander signed a contract with the Fraunhofer Logistics System Planning and Information System Application Center (Fraunhofer ALI). Fraunhofer ALI helped Ortrander research the market for RFID information management systems, looking for a set that can work in harsh industrial and metal environments (which may affect the radio frequency of the RFID system). Wave) working RFID system.
Ortrander eventually chose Ubisense, a UWB real-time positioning system (RTLS) provider. Ubisense’s UWB tags emit a series of short signals (one billionth of a second or less); the extremely short characteristics of pulse waves make the tags less susceptible to RF noise and interference from metals and other nearby objects. The reader of the RTLS system receives the tag signal through the phased antenna. The reader uses two complementary techniques to calculate the tag position: Time Difference of Arrival (TDOA) and Angle of Arrival (AOA). By using this technology at the same time, Ubisense claims that compared to systems that only use TDOA, RTLS requires fewer readers to cover an area.
Ortrander is currently still selecting a manufacturer of passive UHF RFID systems, and has not yet decided on the specific technical details used. Fraunhofer ALI has developed software to connect Ubisense RTLS with Ortrander’s ERP system.
In early 2008, Ortrander tested Ubisense’s active tags and readers, and Euro ID’s passive tags and other components. A month later, the company began to implement this program in the factory, first focusing on the active RFID part.
The forklift is equipped with two Ubisense tags, one on the roof and the other on the outside of the driver’s cab. The tag collects 6-8.5GHz signals at a frequency of 20 times per second. Due to the larger bandwidth of 1.2 GHz, the signal suffers less interference, resulting in a forklift positioning error of +/-15 cm, according to Holger Hartweg, Ubisense sales manager.
A total of 11 readers were installed on a 2500 square meter site (used to clean cast parts), and a total of three sites will implement a forklift tracking system. RTLS captures the signal from the forklift tag and its ID code, and then analyzes the location of the forklift in the warehouse. Since the tags are installed on different parts of the forklift, the system can also determine the direction of the forklift.
Ortrander is currently installing passive UHF RFID to track turnover boxes, and this work is expected to be completed in the middle of this year. Ortrander puts the turnover box on the pallet and transports it to different places. A passive RFID tag will be installed at the bottom of each turnover box. When the turnover box is filled with cast parts, it is transported to the warehouse and temporarily stacked on the floor or storage rack.
The forklift will also install UHF RFID readers and antennas to identify UHF RFID tags on the cargo box. Ortrander and Fraunhofer ALI are still working on label types and label sets. When the driver picks up a turnover box, the reader of the forklift will recognize the UHF RFID tag of the box, and the system will identify which turnover box and when it was moved. Then, this information is combined with the location information of the forklift to let the management know which turnover box was removed.
Currently, Ubisense installs scales on forklifts to weigh the turnover boxes. The system subtracts the weight of the empty container to obtain a negative weight. Since the turnover box may be loaded with different casting products, these data will help determine the products in the turnover box.
Bernd Williams-Boock, CEO of Ortrander, said the system helped the company locate items faster and improve production visibility. This system is expected to be fully operational in the summer of 2009.
[ad_2]
