Cirrus Link
Assembly Line
Get a Competitive Edge With RFID Applications in Ignition
Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology can provide a significant competitive edge in the manufacturing industry by providing a more efficient method of tracking and confirming products, equipment, and assets. The technology utilizes radio waves to identify and track objects which have a small RFID tag attached to them, sometimes with a printed label that otherwise works and looks identical to the existing labels placed on items. Manufacturing companies have realized the benefits of RFID in improving their production processes, reducing costs, and increasing productivity. From inventory management to quality control and supply-chain management, RFID has a wide range of applications in manufacturing.
However, manufacturing presents challenges to using RFID and unlocking its benefits that aren’t present in retail and supply chain (two other major applications of RFID). In supply chain and retail, the RFID software/middleware is typically the primary system of record and runs independently or is layered on top of the existing inventory management systems. They tend to be centrally managed or cloud-hosted (i.e. readers from the antennas go to a central process point). This disqualifies RFID from use in most manufacturing operations, as they have a significant investment and dependence on their MES system, which directly controls edge sensors and scanners and includes requirements for rapid response and availability/uptime.
Sandalwood set a goal of having direct edge responsiveness and control with central IoT device management capability, based on our decades of Digital Transformation experience. In order to achieve these goals, we worked closely with our partners Inductive Automation, Cirrus Link, SLS RFID, and Zebra Technologies to develop a truly in-line RFID architecture suitable for the most demanding manufacturing RFID environments.