Udo Füger, European Product Manager Sensing & Connectivity at Rockwell Automation explains how RFID technology is liberating data from a vast array of manufacturing applications and how industry is starting to enjoy unheard of levels of data capture.
They may have different names, different dates and different numbers, but Industrie 4.0 (Germany), Intelligent Manufacturing 2025 (China), Advanced Manufacturing Partnership 2.0 (United States) and Manufacturing Innovation 3.0 (Korea) are essentially the same thing. Each is a Government initiative focused on bringing manufacturing and technology leadership back to their respective nations.
Backed by heavy Government investment, they all hinge around the concept of the “Smart Factory”. This approach leverages widely available manufacturing data to analyse physical processes and procedures to create models, simulations, dashboards and virtual copies of the physical world in order for decision makers to make decentralised decisions. Core to the “Smart Factory” is the free flow of data and the leverage of the so-called “Internet of Things” (IoT). IoT allows multiple discrete and connected/integrated systems and associated adjacent systems to not only communicate with each other, but also with operators at line side and with software and personnel at the enterprise level.
According to Udo Füger, European Product Manager Sensing & Connectivity at Rockwell Automation: “The IoT is connecting the physical and virtual worlds. It has brought people, processes and equipment together, from smart sensors and other devices to entire systems.”
“This connectivity is deepening our understanding of plant-floor events and sharpening decision-making. But for this smart approach to be fully effective, optimal and complete data capture is vital; as is a network infrastructure that allows the free and unobstructed flow of this data.
“The proliferation of smarter end points, data analytics, scalable computing, mobility and visualisation,” he continues, “is reshaping the future of industrial automation. And it is only with comprehensive product and software portfolios – such as those from Rockwell Automation – that suppliers can genuinely offer solutions that deliver full immersion in the “Smart Factory” right now as opposed to the first few tentative steps on the ladder. An example of this full-portfolio approach is our growing range of RFID technologies.”
Like the various nationally-based initiatives, if we drill down, there are also many approaches being offered by the leading automation and networking companies. The “Connected Enterprise” approach from Rockwell Automation is one such initiative that is gaining significant traction across multiple industries and application in many different countries. And thanks to the significant global position that Rockwell Automation enjoys, it is able to develop “Smart Factory” solutions – for both small and multi-national companies – that reflect the local demands and, just as importantly, local legislation and Government initiatives.
The Connected Enterprise from Rockwell Automation leverages a number of technological approaches in order to deliver multiple tangible benefits, including faster time to market, lower total cost of ownership (TCO), improved asset utilisation and optimisation and enhanced enterprise risk management. Core to this initiative is an integrated suite of software and hardware platforms, all of which communicate across a common network infrastructure – in this case EtherNet/IP – a standard Ethernet network that provides data flow from the smallest line-side device up to enterprise-wide ERP suites.
“This is where our RFID portfolio comes into its own,” Füger explains. “Our RFID technology is already Ethernet capable, meaning that it can be connected directly to the wider network, without any information or translation bottle necks. From our viewpoint – one that is also shared by many of our leading customers – this makes our RFID solution an enabling technology that offers significant advantages over other solutions, especially when it is coupled directly to an Ethernet network.”
It is a proven fact the linking of production data with supply chain information and its subsequent processing in modern MES software or, indeed, industry-specific control solutions, not only optimises inventory control but also improves production efficiency, flexibility and responsiveness. By exploiting this data effectively, companies have a much more effective means of obtaining accurate, detailed and timely information relating to their manufacturing operations, which in turn offers them the chance to get the most value out of their existing automation investments.
One application arena where optimum data capabilities are paramount, is track, trace and compliance management. This is particularly true in the pharmaceutical industry, where counterfeiting is already a global issue. In this scenario, RFID is arguably one of the most effective approaches to addressing both functional and legislative demands.
“Increasingly demanding international quality requirements are forcing companies to better manage product information, lot tracking and related quality standards across their entire supply chain network,” Füger explains. “If a company ever needs to recall a product, it must be done as quickly and as precisely as possible. RFID’s ability to provide reliable, accurate, and up-to-date information is absolutely critical to cost-effectively achieving a company’s recall objectives. For manufacturing operations in a pharmaceutical environment that require a high degree of compliance with Governmental standards and regulations, RFID can also provide additional information streams. In turn, these can support existing MES activities and enable companies to more tightly track, verify, and validate their processes in accordance with 21CFR Part 11 compliance. RFID also can complement existing MES efforts to provide genealogy tracking. Typically, at each stage of processing.”
Pharmaceutical manufacturers can also use RFID technology to tag raw materials with detailed specification information. If a formulation is incorrect, an alert would automatically be triggered. This can help reduce scrap rates and increase yield, helping to assure a higher degree of reliability and quality in processing.
Traditional bar coding works to some extent, in that it can provide an instantaneous burst of information, but it has many shortfalls as it relies on line of sight, correct lighting and optimal code placement or product orientation. RFID, as a track and trace solution, suffers from none of these issues and the ability to add information to the chip as the product progresses through the manufacturing process gives it even greater appeal. Indeed, RFID can provide more accurate and reliable data than what’s available through manual bar coding methods, and this can have a major impact in high volume and high-speed manufacturing operations where speed, accuracy and timeliness are critical for throughput and performance.
For optimal RFID success, efforts to improve inventory visibility across the supply chain should be closely tied to a company’s control systems and execution processes driving production. “This is where our RFID portfolio demonstrates its strengths,” Füger explains. “With a direct Ethernet connection, our RFID technology is already part of the bigger picture. It is also easier to justify the Return on Investment (ROI), as many manufacturers recognise that the plant floor presents a vast, untapped opportunity for value creation and even strategic advantage. By applying integrated RFID technology incrementally across the plant floor, manufacturers can seamlessly exploit the new information captured by RFID without disrupting their existing control, visualisation and information infrastructure. Existing manufacturing execution and information systems can then be updated to deliver robust and reliable real-time information flow to drive manufacturing execution in tune with the RFID-enabled supply chain.”
For specialised industries there may well be greater benefits in data visualisation and subsequent reuse through the deployment of industry-specific MES software and process control solutions. “One example of this,” Füger elaborates, “is PharmaSuite from Rockwell Automation. PharmaSuite brings an innovative approach to MES, with role-based optimisation of each stage of a recipe’s life cycle that drives time to results for every user. Open-content architecture paired with an intelligent upgrade engine provides users with a powerful system designed for growth in both batch and discrete processing. The end results being reduced time to market and the elimination of paperwork leading to the highest quality of standards and process optimisation.”
Rockwell Automation also offers a number of other industry-specific MES solutions that are just as capable of leveraging real time data, such as that delivered by RFID technology, and then putting it to work to achieve performance targets. One such MES solution is Rockwell Software AutoSuite™. With its proven results in track and trace, error proofing, quality management, and operations intelligence, AutoSuite covers industrial automation, control and software solutions across the entire automotive supply chain. Using AutoSuite, users can focus on improving quality, reducing costs, increasing responsiveness and ultimately improving time-to-market. Rockwell Software CPGSuite® is another performance management MES solution that gives its Consumer Packaged Goods industry users the ability to set factory-performance goals and track progress in real time. Like other MES solutions it contributes to increased productivity, reduced waste and increased profitability.
“In order to deliver this rich information from RFID upstream out to the supply chain and Enterprise Resource Planning system and downstream into production and the various MES solutions,” Füger explains, “companies must convert their existing information infrastructure so that it co-exists with emerging EPC standards and IT; including software and application management technology.
RFID technology can also be used for simpler, but arguably just as important, applications such as asset tagging. By tagging physical assets, such as machines, fork trucks and material handling devices, manufacturers can gain better information about the location, usability and maintenance requirements. Using this information, manufacturers can devise production steps as well as maintenance and labour schedules to help decrease asset costs, optimise asset performance and maximise asset utilisation. Thanks to its passive method of operation, RFID does not require proactive scanning; all that is required is readers placed at tactical points across an enterprise. This removes the onus on the operator to “check in” at regular intervals.
“Traceability, tracking and data collection in all of their many guises are slowly becoming vital facets to the successful implementation of the “Smart Factory” and the onward journey to Industrie 4.0 and its many worldwide peers,” Füger explains. “RFID has an immensely important role to play in these data gathering exercises, either in simple asset-tracking applications or all the way up to large-scale pharmaceutical batch monitoring. Thanks to its greater data-gathering capabilities, compared to traditional barcoding, it is seeing massive acceptance in a great many industries in applications that may have previously been ignored due to technical limitations.
“With our impressive RFID portfolio,” he concludes, “Rockwell Automation is in an incredibly strong position worldwide, a position which is further strengthened by the fact that our Ethernet capable technology can integrate seamlessly with existing control, automation, safety, motion and process solutions that are deployed in a huge amount of different applications the world over. With market demands and our own research and development efforts driving product capabilities, we will soon be announcing the introduction of a new range of UHF-capable interfaces and readers that are set to expand the deployment of RFID into many more demanding industrial applications.”
This article was written for RFID im Blick magazine on behalf of Rockwell Automation