What RFID can (and can’t) do to control indirect materials ......
Every new emerging technology with the potential of total industry and international adoption requires a set of standards. That is especially so when considering technologies that will impact logistics procedures. When your supplier from another state or even another country ships product to be received at your facility; how would your receiving department enable the automated receipt of that product if there were no standards? Your receiving department would not know how to identify the product and the very technology that was developed to speed and enhance the process becomes the cause of failure ... all because a lack of standards. These standards are critical to growing the use and success of RFID technology as a logistics process enhancement.
As stated earlier, there are several standardization initiatives being developed for RFID technology. All the standardizations include attempts to standardize technology platforms and tag information. The tag information aspect of the standards is very important when dealing with RFID technology in a logistics situation. What about the internal tracking of inventory?
Can RFID effectively be used to track inventory movement within your facility to perform maintenance tasks, machine setup, or the usage of cutting tools in a production environment? What standards are needed to implement this method of internal tracking and replenishment of inventory?
The SPEC 2000 proposed number standard uses three characters in front of a serial number of 1 to 15 characters to identify the item and the programmed number being a serialized item number.
Currently, in order for anyone to adopt and conform to this standard, they must identify and allow for this numbering method in their inventory management system. What if the standard your industry adopts today is ATA and in a year's time decides that the EPC Global numbering standard makes more sense for your suppliers? What kind of effort would it be to switch? Is there a way to currently manage multiple RFID numbering standards and easily adjust as industries and suppliers change without requiring a database that contains all numbering standards for each product? Yes.
In short, when utilizing an internal tracking system with RFID technology to track indirect materials like tools, MRO products, spare parts inventory, hazmat materials, etc., at the time of final receipt into a tool crib or store room the tag number can be associated with your internal tracking system. This does not require reprogramming of badges and allows for reuse of badges so that the cost of tags on expendable items can be reduced dramatically.
Associating RFID tags with your internal tracking systems will create an advantage when unsure which standard will be adopted. We recommend using a tag association like a serial identifier to manage indirect material movement within your facility. In other words, your materials are at the final receive area and are being put away in a store room or tool crib. The products were received at the shipping dock, possibly by an RFID dock door system. Typically the pallet would have been identified.
Now it is time to put the materials away in their respective bin position which requires each item to be identified with an RFID tag. That RFID tag contains a number that identifies that particular item and when locating that item in its final bin position, that number is associated with a product number in your tracking system. This is not a manual task it is automated in CribMaster through the purchase order receive process. The open purchase order line item is highlighted and the next tag that is read through the RFID system is associated with that line item. The next time that tag is read, it now identifies the product number by the associated tag.
Now that we have covered the industry as a whole, the role of RFID standards and how RFID can assist and ease the transaction processes, we should now talk openly about its downfalls.
RFID technology requires, what we call employee compliance. This means your workforce understands how the technology will help them do their job better and are willing to follow proper procedures to insure this is happening. If procedures are performed properly, when tracking indirect materials using RFID, then inventory counts, usage and replenishment are accurate and you never run out of needed stock to complete a job or task. It is crucial that the workforce understands that the technology is in place to assist in efforts to do their job better and are properly trained on the procedures.
The reason that employee compliance is crucial to a successful RFID implementation is that RFID can be beaten. If you have a problem in your facility with theft or pilferage, RFID may not be the right solution. RFID tags are applied with labels and labels can be removed. So if an employee wanted to walk through the portal without the inventory being read and a transaction being logged, all they have to do is tear off or destroy the label. There are also other ways to beat the system because RFID communications have some natural enemies.
If the goal of implementing RFID is to eliminate or reduce theft problems within your operation, you are not going to be satisfied with the results. There are solutions offered with the CribMaster Accu-Port that are put in place to increase accountability (like CM Cameras), but there are other single-item dispensing solutions that enable definite control in situations where theft or pilferage is a problem. RFID is a medium security solution.
The first natural enemy of RFID communication is metal. Tags applied directly to metal objects will not read. These scenarios of tagging metal objects can be overcome with creative packaging. For instance, you have a tool holder that has a 4” x 6” RFID label applied directly to the tool holder. This passive label application will not become active when energized with the antennae because of the metal interference. You have labeled a plastic box that securely holds the tool holder and enables the tag to become activated.
Being aware of the natural RFID enemies and willingness to package items properly is a critical step to a successful implementation.
Inventory movement within a facility is initiated and managed through logged transactions. Take a tool crib for instance, if a machine operator walked up to the crib to get a package of carbide inserts, the crib personnel would remove that tool from inventory, hand it to the machine operator and log that transaction. The transaction may include other cost center information including what machine the tools were used on, what job it was used for or what department it was charged to. All of this information is logged to that transaction. That transaction also initiated a depletion of inventory which took inventory levels one step closer to replenishment and if it reaches the order-point an order is generated and communicated to the supplier. Everything is based on that transaction.
Imagine your employees walk up to a caged area or store room containing tools, MRO items, safety products, maintenance parts or any indirect material used to keep your facility operating. As they enter the doorway, their badge is picked up by the RFID antennae. Their name sounds off audibly, the door is unlocked (given they have permission to enter the crib) and they enter to retrieve their items. The employee gathers all the needed items and they press the exit button to unlock the door and walk back through the Accu-Port which records the transaction for each item as they walk away. This is all real-time using RFID technology.
RFID technology now makes this possible. Your employees don't have to scan, notate, log or even concern themselves with any aspect of retrieving items other than carrying them through the port.
The CribMaster Accu-Port is linked to an indirect material inventory management system called CribMaster. CribMaster is a advanced indirect material management system that utilizes this portal to initiate transactions through RFID tags that are associated with CribMaster item numbers. The RFID portal provides access control while logging the issue and return transactions of all indirect material inventory types which include; expendable, durable, serialized, gages, reworkable, and kits and assemblies.
You'll struggle to make any progress if you have not clearly defined the processes that affect inventory throughout the organization. While defining the processes you should be looking for opportunities for errors and implementing changes to eliminate or reduce them.
Even the most accurate employee will make errors. We suggest placing formal checks in place for critical operations. Get as many people involved in this step to ensure you have a complete and accurate understanding of the processes. Anything missed in this step will require new procedures and additional employee training later, so once again "take the time and do it right". It is important when undertaking this step, the system you choose to help with inventory management can easily provide the necessary reporting to identify and assist with these formal checks for critical operations.
This is the part where you use the previously defined processes to document the procedures the employees will follow to maintain inventory integrity. The procedures documented here should not be limited to inventory issues; they should be the complete procedure including quality, physical aspects, and safety. This documentation should be as clear and comprehensive as possible. It should be written for a specific task within a specific job responsibility, it should include everything the employee needs to know to complete the task and nothing else. For example: if a stock clerk's responsibility is to notify the supervisor of any discrepancies, that is all it should state in the procedure for the stock clerk even though there will be additional procedures for dealing with the discrepancy. Procedures should also include the correct sequence and timing of entering data, and any checks that are required to be performed.
If there are any exceptions to a procedure they should be specified in the documentation, allowing undocumented exceptions to a procedure will decrease its effectiveness. Be realistic, procedures are not a "wish list", they are the documentation of the requirements of a specific task. You must be prepared to enforce compliance to all procedures. Once you are completed with the documentation, we suggest you first distribute the procedures to a few key employees, then take a couple of weeks for you and the key employees to monitor existing operations to see if anything was missed or if anything is incorrect. Once this is done the procedures should be officially put into effect and distributed to all employees.
In CribMaster, employee procedures can be linked to each employee record so you can keep inventory procedures and inventory records all in one system. This enables a simplified training and an immediate reference guide that can be maintained electronically for update purposes. Procedures can also be linked to assets or items. This is helpful if the procedure involved is attached to a continually rotating position.
The RIDE process can be used to help correctly implement the changes needed for a successful RFID project, ensure procedure compliance and identify and address procedure changes. The RIDE acronym simply identifies a monitoring mind-set that will remind management to clearly think through the steps needed to implement change. It is simply that, a reminder as to the steps for effective monitoring.
Identify: The second step to accurately monitoring is identifying. Once the report is generated, accurate inventory analysis can take place. Identifying areas for improvement should be the focus of your reporting. You run the example report listed above and identify double the usage of the same tool for the same production amount on second shift.
Decide: Now it is time to make an educated decision on what is causing the discrepancy that has been identified and the steps needed to correct it. In the example listed, the discrepancy can only be an operator error. If the machine is only misusing tools on a single shift than it can only be an issue of an operator running the wrong turn speed, not turning inserts or maybe using less cutting fluids. Decide on the best way to handle the issue.
Execute: Execute your decided solution. Now you address the operator problem with increased employee training and increased accountability.
How do you automate your maintenace cribs to enable automatic issuing of product and automatic replenishment of product? How do you implement an RFID system that can be utilized by both the supplier and the end-user to ensure correct stock levels and minimize carrying costs while not adding additional steps to the workflow process?
A facility of this size requires proper tracking methods. Wah Chang utilizes RFID in a maintenance crib in cooperation with a key supplier Bassett Industrial. Bassett maintains and utilizes the crib as an unmanned store to effectively replenish supplies and to provide usage reports based on user defined cost centers. When a Wah Chang employee enters the crib, the employee is either identified by an RFID badge that he or she carries or the person can select his or her name on the touch screen. The system may also require identifying other cost centers at the time of entry into the crib. Ultimately, Wah Chang knows exactly who took the item from the crib, where they were using it and what it was being used on.
One of the biggest challenges faced when implementing a new system or process of any kind is getting people to correctly follow procedures. Especially in maintenance or repair operations, mechanics or technicians do not want to (or should they) be slowed down by additional steps. The Accu-Port has proven invaluable to Wah Chang enabling proper inventory levels to be maintained and not add additional steps to the workers taking and returning inventory items.
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