In the era of the Internet of everything, various industries are relying on the Internet of things technology to achieve leapfrog development. Nowadays, the traditional manufacturing industry is in urgent need of transformation and moving towards intelligence. RFID technology, the core of the Internet of things, is the key to realize intelligent manufacturing. As the automation of industrial production has become a trend, intelligent production machines and equipment have replaced most of the manual work, and the industrial production capacity is gradually increasing. So what can RFID bring to manufacturing? And how do RFID tags revolutionize manufacturing?

Advantages of RFID tags in Manufacturing

Under the trend of intelligent manufacturing transformation, RFID, as a non-contact automatic identification technology, can automatically identify target objects and obtain relevant data through radio frequency signals. Because of the low cost of RFID implementation and deployment, and the convenience of data acquisition and transmission, enterprises pay more and more attention to it.

Compared with barcode, magnetic card, IC card, and other technologies, RFID tags have many advantages of batch processing, long-distance non-contact reading & writing, large data capacity, reusable, insensitive to pollution, etc.

RFID tags can be read remotely and in batches, avoiding the disadvantage that bar codes can only be read visually. It can automatically identify and add quality data in the testing station, identify the automatic in and out of the warehouse in batches, improving the production level, and avoiding the adverse effects caused by human operation errors or missed operations. Moreover, the original bar code can be printed on the surface of the RFID label to be compatible with the old equipment and avoid the waste of assets. RFID technology also has the following advantages in intelligent manufacturing:

• No contact, no manual intervention in the whole process, automatic data collection, and no easy damage.
• Information can be collected from objects in a running state, and multiple tags can be identified at the same time, more convenient.
• Suitable for applications with a poor production environment and high requirements such as high reliability, large data storage, and high real-time requirements for data transmission.

RFID technology brings a new life to traditional manufacturing, making it transform into intelligent. It can achieve the integrated management of raw materials, factory manufacturing, sales, and customer demand, and make a big difference to every link of manufacturing, accelerate the process of its intellectualization.

Applications of RFID in Manufacturing

RFID technology integrates various production links into the network system by giving the material form of electronic tags, greatly improving the automation level of industrial manufacturing. The impact of RFID in the manufacturing industry is extensive, including information management, manufacturing execution, quality control, standards compliance, tracking and traceability, asset management, warehouse visualization, and productivity.

Manufacturing Information Management

In the production process of manufacturing enterprises, it is very important for the production line to feedback information timely and accurately. In the past, we could only record the faults manually while producing, which was time-consuming and laborious, and sometimes could not be very accurate.

By combining RFID with existing manufacturing information systems such as MES, ERP, CRM, and IDM, a more powerful information chain can be built to deliver accurate data on time, resulting in increased productivity, asset utilization, and higher levels of quality control and various online measurements.

Standardized Production Control

The RFID system can provide continuously updated real-time data streams, which is complementary to the manufacturing execution system. The information provided by RFID can be used to ensure the correct use of machines, equipment, tools, parts, etc., to achieve paperless information transmission and reduce downtime.

Furthermore, when raw materials, parts, and assemblies pass through the production line, the production process can be controlled, modified, or even reorganized in real-time to ensure the reliability and high quality of production.

Quality Tracking and Traceability

Install RFID reading equipment in each process of the production line, and place RFID tags that can be read and written repeatedly on the product or tray. In this way, when the product passes through these nodes, the RFID reading & writing device can read the information in the label on the product or tray, and feedback the information to the background management system in real-time, ensuring the quality of products.

Besides, RFID and existing manufacturing execution systems can complement each other. For most components, manufacturing execution systems have been able to collect information such as product identifiers, timestamps, physical attributes, order numbers, and batches of each process, which can be converted into RFID codes and transmitted to the supply chain to help manufacturers track and trace the history of products.

Factory Asset Management

Affix RFID tags to asset equipment to store information such as location, availability status, performance characteristics, storage capacity, and so on. Based on this information, the production process, maintenance, and labor adjustment help to improve the value of assets, optimize asset performance, and maximize asset utilization. Due to reduced downtime and more efficient maintenance, it can positively affect very important manufacturing performance parameters, such as the overall effectiveness of the device.

Visualization of Warehouse Reserves

As contract manufacturing becomes more and more important, it is critical to synchronize the supply chain and the clear visibility of the manufacturing process. RFID is suitable for applications of all sizes (locally or extended to the entire factory). RFID allows Omni-directional and full visualization of incoming, WIP, packaging, transportation, and warehousing until it is finally sent to the next destination in the supply chain, all of which are related to information management.

Automatic Product Line Management

Install the RFID tag on the product and use the RFID reader of the production line to read the product information to provide the processing attribute basis for automatic processing. RFID tags can conveniently and accurately record process information and process operation information, meet the needs of flexible production, greatly improve the quickness and accuracy of production, improve work efficiency, change the mode of production, and save costs.

Common RFID tags using in Manufacturing

Manufacturing involves many industries, such as clothing production, car making, home appliances, toy production, machinery production, etc. Because the industry, objects are all different, so we choose the RFID tag must follow the specific application. The RFID sticker is the most basic RFID tag with a low price that can be used in most places, including manufacturing. However, in the manufacturing industry, the majority of workshop equipment is made of metal, so recommend some commonly used Anti-metal RFID tags as follows. If they are not meet your requirements, you can contact us directly for advice. 

 

RFID ABS Anti-metal Tag

This ABS Anti-metal tag is made of ABS material, waterproof, heat resistant, and durable. Moreover, it can be embedded in HF chips or UHF chips, depending on the application. This tag is very suitable for production lines or large metal products such as automobiles, mechanical products, etc. It can also be used in asset management, warehouse management, logistics management, etc.

Conclusion 

RFID intelligent production is the use of novel, comprehensive, advanced, and intelligent production management, through various technologies of the Internet of things to collect data. RFID automatic induction acquisition technology realizes the inventory and transportation of materials, the inspection of products, especially the process control of the production process, which optimizes the efficient management of the whole production line. The application of RFID technology in production control realizes the visualization and intelligence of the production line. RFID opens a new chapter in the field of intelligent manufacturing.