RFID Solution Monitors Crimp Processes in the Food Packing Industry

Don’t laugh.  Processing sausage is a serious business from start to finish, and RFID systems are doing their part to improve the process. 

Sausages are processed using high-tech machines that introduce meat into casings at very high speeds.  Once filled, the casing needs to be sealed.  Metal crimps or clips are frequently used to seal the casing.  The correct tool must be used to make the crimp.  Use the wrong tool and the crimp may not seal the sausages.  Damage to the equipment is another negative aspect to be avoided. This is an ideal application for an RFID system. 

A low-cost, label-style RFID tag is applied to the spool holding the metal crimps and another RFID tag is applied to the crimp tool.  Once the crimp spool has been mounted to the sausage filling machine the RFID tag reads the type and style of the metal crimps.  Similarly, the machine controller will read the RFID tag that is part of the crimp tool.  With these two pieces of information, the controller can allow the filling and crimping processes to proceed.  If the RFID system determines that the crimp does not match the crimp tool, the operator is notified by an alarm.  This not only assures that the sausages are properly crimped but also avoids expensive damage to the machine, damage that would result in downtime and possibly high repair costs.