A typical RFID solution would be to use industrial, metal friendly and RF noise friendly tags. This is because standard RFID tags may not function correctly in an RF noisy environment due to the large amount of welding machines, cutting machines and so on which generate a lot of Radio Frequency noise.
The tags would require a range of about 3 meters, sufficient for use at one workstation. This rugged tag is installed in the car body itself and fixed RFID scanners mounted on the workstation read the tag. The workmen use handheld RFID readers to quickly locate the parts that would go into the particular car with the read RFID tag number. The addition of these components is then recorded automatically at each workstation and this information is fed to the computerized Manufacturing execution system (MES) which tracks the cars and the components, as they move along the line.
The advantages gained by implementers are :
a. A moving snapshot of the entire manufacturing line in real time.
b. No stock Outs at workstations.
c. Better quality controls at workstations, as very little possibility of the wrong parts being fitted into the car bodies.
