Besides production, the car manufacturer controls finishing processes, vehicle preparation and shipments with UHF technology
Audi has been using RFID technology in vehicle production in its Hungarian car factory in GyÅ‘r, which was opened in 2013. The car manufacturer also uses RFID in its first foreign plant for tracking new vehicles through the process of finishing and shipment. But this is only the first step of a global roll-out plan. RFID integration will be transferred to the German sites in Ingolstadt and Neckarsulm as well as to several plants around the world – to the plants in Brussels in Belgium and to San José Chiapa in Mexico, where the latest Audi Q5 will be produced from 2016.
The UHF RFID system went live at the Audi Hungaria Motor Kft, as production started in Győr, Hungary, in June 2013. The system is used to track and trace the finishing and the technical inspection of the A3 saloons and A3 cabriolets that the plant produces. It is also used in vehicle preparation and shipment. One of the goals is to have traceability in terms of which process stage each vehicle has reached, within finishing, storage or shipment. The workloads of the drivers who locate and transport the vehicles is also reduced.
Readers identify vehicles at work stations
During the finishing process, a driver drives the car to the relevant work station, then to a hub, and from there onto a truck or train, which carries out the transportation of the vehicles produced in Győr. Each vehicle receives an RFID tag on the inside of the front bumper after assembly, for identification. On the production line, the vehicle identification number (VIN) and another ID number, which is used at the assembly stations, is written onto the RFID tag. For vehicle identification purposes, approximately 50 stationary readers were installed along the assembly line, as well as at the gates and passages leading to and from the storage areas. The workers also have a handheld reader as a back-up.
Read the complete article at "RFID im Blick" Online.