SCDigest Editorial Staff

A variety of new technologies, including RFID, motes, sensors and actuators, combined with broader use of wireless on the shop floor, have the potential to change the dynamics of many manufacturing environments.

SCDigest Says:

RFID tag and reader prices are also declining, not yet to the level needed to drive widespread adoption in the consumer goods to retail value chain, but which lowers the threshold for exceeding ROI requirements in many manufacturing applications. What do you say? Send us your comments here

The analysts at research firm Forrester call these technologies “Extended Internet Applications,” or “X Internet” technology. According to Forrester analyst Roy Wildeman, “Process owners are seeing modest efficiency gains in their plant-level projects, particularly in the areas of industrial maintenance and internal mobile asset optimization,” from these technologies currently. But the value should grow “as these early adopters connect and exploit synergies between their shop-floor data and enterprise applications.”

Foundation Being Put in Place

The gradual deployment of widespread wireless networks on the shop floor provides a critical platform upon which manufacturers can take advantage of these newer technologies. Advances in RFID technology, such as EPC Gen 2, are allowing the fast read rates required by many manufacturing operations, while RFID tags and readers using more rugged design are overcoming some of the previous barriers to adoption from early generation RFID equipment not suitable for shop floor usage.

RFID tag and reader prices are also declining, not yet to the level needed to drive widespread adoption in the consumer goods to retail value chain, but which lowers the threshold for exceeding ROI requirements in many manufacturing applications.

“Prices for low-end active RFID tags are also approaching those of high-end passive tags, enabling a wider array of cost-effective solutions for manufacturing applications,” Forrester notes.

Growing Number of Successful Deployments

Forrester sees adoption occurring in several areas. This included:

• Equipment monitoring and control: For example, BP is using 3,000 wireless sensors in its Cherry Point Refinery to lower the total costs of monitoring its field tanks across more than 4 square miles of operations.
• Assembly line and job-shop management: RFID has been used in the high tech industry for many years to track work in process. Now, that’s spreading to other industries. Forrester notes that Boeing and Honda Italia, for example, are using RFID to track critical parts and subassemblies to streamline assembly cycle times and eradicate improper configurations.
• Container tracking and yard management:  Volkswagen is using active RFID tags in its Brussels VW Golf plant, as well as two additional German plants, to gain visibility into the 10,000 specialized containers needed to move stamped parts, reducing expedites and improving usage of these expensive handling assets.