Intermec RFID Solution Can Save Auto Makers $5M Per Assembly Line
2 October 2000
New Intermec RFID Solution for Automotive Assembly Work-In-Process Can Save Auto Makers $5 Million Per Assembly Line
EVERETT, Wash.--Oct. 2, 2000--Intellitag RFID Tags Designed Specifically for Mounting
on Metal Surfaces
Successful automotive manufacturing requires that a complex set of instructions and sequences be known and followed.
In some automotive assembly plants, the lack of the correct instruction sets results in error rates as high as five percent, which is why there's a growing demand for reusable electronic media that can be mounted on, and reliably read around, metal parts in harsh, industrial environments.
To help improve information accuracy in manufacturing environments, Intermec Technologies Corp. has developed an RFID (radio frequency identification) tag specifically for the automotive and similar heavy manufacturing industries. The new Intellitag(R) 2450 MHz Metal Mount RFID Tag is designed for application on radio frequency reflective/absorbent surfaces, such as metal parts and containers, found in demanding industrial environments. The tags are compact enough for non-conspicuous application and are completely encapsulated in a heavy-duty protective thermal polyurethane/polycarbonate plastic alloy specially designed to survive the rigors of manufacturing.
The tag uses the 2450 MHz microwave frequency range for unlicensed use. The 2450 MHz protocols within the ANSI 256-1999 standard are accepted as the first international standard for item management by the ISO SC13 AIDC standards subcommittee for RFID. And while RFID tags operating in this frequency range generally have limited range, Intellitag's power-efficient, single-chip design makes it possible for single-antenna read ranges in excess of one meter (39").
According to industry projections, by 2001, automotive assemblers and vehicle manufacturers will use RFID tags to build three million vehicles, growing to 10 million vehicles by 2004.
"The Intellitag Metal Mount Tag RFID solution is designed specifically to improve the quality and accuracy of information for work-in-process and item tracking during automotive vehicle assembly," said Lisa Wilkinson, Intermec senior product manager. "RFID makes information collection more accurate and reliable, especially in tough manufacturing environments. The savings resulting from reduced errors, and increased quality, can result in rapid returns on investment."
Intermec's Intellitag products feature an anti-collision protocol, which allows up to 40 tags to be scanned per second, regardless of how many tags are in the read zone. Entire groups of tags can be selected and sorted by user-defined criteria, and common data can be written to select groups of multiple tags simultaneously.
As with all Intellitag inserts and tags, the Metal Mount Tags have an extended memory capacity of 1,024 bits, a capacity not found in older, less flexible "proximity" RFID technology. A unique identifier is pre-programmed on each insert that is permanently locked to prevent overwrite, while the "unlocked" memory areas can be repeatedly written and re-written to. Users can selectively apply a permanent lock on static information or can limit who can write to the tag by using unique customer identifiers.