International plywood and particleboard makers - Krono Holdings of Switzerland are currently using RFID navigation systems for their warehouses in Hungary and Slovakia, and a system to be implemented in German warehouses in July. More than 1,600 LF tags are installed on each floor of each warehouse in these areas to track the movement of forklifts and loading and unloading planks.
The system was installed in every warehouse in three countries, but the company also plans to extend the system to other regions. The system is based on technologies developed by two companies in Bavaria: SEP Logistik, an inventory management software provider, and Indyon, a real-time tracking system provider. The following is a detailed case study:
Jointly develop RELAG software using RFID navigation system
The first to adopt the system was the Kronospan-Mofa Farostlemezgy ̈¢rt ̈® factory in Hungary. The company's management team has long wanted to create a more efficient positioning system for locating plywood and particleboard while performing quality testing in batches to ensure that the earliest items are sold at the earliest. Previously, factories relied on inventory and employee recalls to manually complete tracking tasks. There were 200 plywood and particleboard in the Kronospan-Mofa warehouse pallet in Hungary, measuring 5 meters in height and 15 to 20 meters in length.
SEP Logistik was found when Kronospan-Mofa in Hungary began planning a new warehouse, and the two companies jointly developed a solution – SEP Logistik proposed RELAG software for RFID navigation systems.
Kronospan-Mofa, Hungary, first trial of the RFID system
Kronospan-Mofa in Hungary has been using the system since the new warehouse was completed in August 2007, with a 134 kHz label installed in the glass capsules of the concrete floor. These tags are supplied by Texas Instruments and conform to the ISO 11784 standard. Each tag has a unique code number, all of which is stored in the database and linked to the tag's warehouse location information.
After the boards are produced, they are stacked in a tray, and then the label with the ID code and product description is placed on the front of the tray. The driver uses a forklift picking tray equipped with a bar code scanner and an RFID interrogator, and the bar code scanner on the forklift reads the pallet label and transmits the information to the warehouse management system.
The system then sends the resulting information to the forklift's touch screen display, instructing the driver to place the tray on a particular stack. Once the RFID reader installed on the forklift reads the tag, the computer system immediately updates the position of the forklift.
The resulting location information is primarily used to confirm that the specified board cargo is placed on the specified storage stack. If the driver is driving in the wrong direction, the system will use this data to alert the driver and save time. Upon reaching the specified storage stack, the driver stacks the pallets and confirms the delivery information via the forklift's touch screen. By reading the RFID tag, the system can double check the delivery of the pallet to the specified stack.
This process will reappear when loading the truck. After the forklift monitors the instructions, the division picks the pallets from the specific stack and delivers the pallets to the designated truck. Unlike previous lists of documents that read paper near forklifts, drivers use electronic clues to apply RFID technology to determine where to place the pallets. Once the pallet has been loaded onto the truck, the warehouse management system records the exact time of loading and automatically generates a shipping receipt.
System application
Dietmar Rinne, head of Kronospan IT GmbH, a subsidiary of Krono Holdings, said that there were no technical problems during the system installation and there was no problem in operation. However, the company invested a lot of time and resources to train employees to use the system, sharing 8 weeks during the entire training period and training 25 employees.
Rinne is responsible for integrating RFID applications with the company's customized ERP software. Hungary's Kronospan invested $312,000 in the system, but the return on investment has not been calculated because of the lack of specific data for cost comparisons.
According to Rinne, the Kronospan board factory is very pleased with the system, and workers are looking for storage boards faster than they used to. On this basis, Kronospan is now able to perform more quality checks as the positioning of individual items becomes faster. And because the goods can be found without a list of documents or the memory of the employees, it is ensured that they can first sell the planks that have been stored for the longest time, thus avoiding the inventory being left in the warehouse for too long.
In addition, Krono has implemented the same system in its warehouses in Warren and Slovakia, including more than 4,000 labels and eight RFID forklifts. The training process in Slovakia is faster and smoother than in Hungary, and the identification system is currently being implemented in the Bischweier warehouse in Germany.
Hungarian plywood warehouse embeds passive LF RFID tags into the floor for tracking forklifts and transporting planks
Unlike the previous list of papers that were read near the forklift, the driver will determine where to place the pallet by applying electronic clues to RFID technology.
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