Milovan Lazarevic

RFID technology in product/part tracking during the whole life cycle

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present a new way for identification of products/parts and their tracking during the whole life cycle, from the manufacture and assembly phase to the disassembly phase.Design/methodology/approach – Radio frequency identification (RFID) technology is applied on a chosen product, an in‐mould labelling (IML) robot.Findings – This paper discusses a case study that highlights the use of RFID as automatic identification technology, especially in the processes of assembly/disassembly of the IML robot. The application can be expanded onto any kind of product, with the exception of some life cycle phases that are specific for a particular product.Practical implications – The paper gives an example of how RFID technology can actually be realized in the case of the IML robot to improve the quality of tracking its main components.Originality/value – The users have the possibilities to access and analyze information about the products/parts during their cycle.

Implementation of RFID Technology in Parking Lot Access Control System

Parking plays an important role in the traffic system since all vehicles require a storage location when they are not being used to transport passengers. Whether it is a parking lot or on-street parking there is a problem of parking revenue convenience. Implementation of the RFID technology could be a good solution for this problem.

Food Product Traceability by Using Automated Identification Technologies

Food product traceability from harvesting, through food processing to the final food product and through the retailer to the end consumer is a significant process that has to ensure food quality and safety. The traceability enables the end consumer to get information from all previous stages of the food product, leading back to the food origin. In this way, the consumer can get more information on the specific product, and thus make a decision on buying the product that suits his needs best. In each stage of the food product transformation, important data are generated for the subsequent chain participants. Every participant should have access to certain data of interest to them. This can be achieved by using automated identification technologies, like RFID (Radio Frequency IDentification) and two-dimensional barcode, which allow faster data acquisition, recording and reading processes than the traditional means, and provide up-to-date information in each product stage. Furthermore, these technologies allow the possibility to record large amounts of data for each specific product, and interconnect all the data in a database. This paper discusses the process of providing traceability of food products, recording, transmitting and reading of significant data in specific stages of food product chain, with the application of automated identification technologies, including the possibility of obtaining additional data from a database, according to appropriate access level of each participant in the chain. Advantages and disadvantages of automated identification technologies are discussed, with the proposition for using specific technologies in certain food product stages.

RFID Technology in Product Lifecycle Management

Most of the manufacturers have to comply with market changes and continuous shortening of the product life cycle. Changes on the factory floor are happening on a daily basis. In order to procure these changes production structures have to be more manageable by means of lowering degree of complexity and enabling production structures to adapt flexibility (Maksimovic et al., 2010). Also, there is a need for finding a good solution to the problem of production of certain types of products and their disposal into the waste dumps, in order to reduce and control the quantity of such waste, because the waste is being made in everincreasing quantities (Ostojic et al., 2008).

RFID Product and Part Tracking for the Preventive Maintenance

RFID technology can be applied during the different phases of a product realization, material handling, packaging, but also during the disassembly. Recently, environmental issues have posed certain challenges in a way that products are being handled after the end of their lifecycle. Nowadays, the products are being designed for assembly but also for a disassembly. Whatever the selected strategy for products or parts of products is at the end of their life cycle, it is necessary to design an appropriate production system as well as a disassembly system. Reflection about the final stages in a product overall lifecycle early in the process has enabled focus on a sustainable design. In this paper, one such system is going to be described. Managing of product related data and product identification could be more efficient if some new technologies are used. One of them is the use In-mould labeling (IML) technology. The molded plastic items are being labeled before they are formed by different kinds of robots or manipulators. Labels are caught into the mould of plastic injection molding machines (IMM). Our intention is to present an automated system that enables tracking of product throughout the different stages of its lifecycle. Writing and updating information about the states of the IML robot and its basic robot components (e.g. cylinders), on the RFID tag and in database, could be done only by an authorized user. The user can get the information about the momentary status of a particular product or part during different phases during the life cycle. Information placed in the database about a product can describe the components that can be used for spare parts, information about the services (dates and descriptions), number of working cycles, etc. Such information can be used for product or part tracking for preventive maintenance.Copyright