Swiss-type Automatic Lathes
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Long-Range RFID Inventory Tracking

In today’s manufacturing environment, knowing where parts and assets are can play a vital role in maintaining continuous operation and preventing production delays.

Chris Felix
Chris Felix
Former Editor-in-Chief, Production Machining

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In today’s manufacturing environment, knowing where parts and assets are can play a vital role in maintaining continuous operation and preventing production delays. Assets such as containers, totes and skids are as critical to maintain a smoothly running manufacturing process as the parts themselves.
 
Knowing where these assets are on the shop floor provides significant visibility into where the process is now and where problems may arise. Being able to track assets and the parts they contain can help prevent shortages at manufacturing lines and create real-time visibility into the state of the process, providing a means for more efficiency and process improvement that can translate into real cost savings.
 
Balluff’s BIS U series UHF (ultra high frequency) RFID (radio frequency identification) provides a reliable and flexible tool for visibility into the supply chain and manufacturing process. Because BIS U technology is passive, battery based tags are not necessary to achieve long detection ranges. With the BIS U, non-contact read/write ranges as high as 6 meters can be achieved. The series not only can be used with low cost paper tags, but also industrially hardened long life metal mount container tags and even high temperature tags.
 
Used with either an RS232 serial or Ethernet TCP/IP interface, the BIS U series can detect and process multiple RFID tags at once. It can be used for such applications as asset tracking, logistics tracking, and closed-loop and supply chain logistics, as well as production tracking.
 
Managing assets and inventory can be a challenge. Many products are available to address the variety of needs in this area. Learn more about how Balluff can help, and find contact information at the company’s showroom. For another perspective, read Inventory Control Systems for the Shop to see how one manufacturer has implemented RFID and inventory management software to create a leaner manufacturing environment.

  

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