RFID Gives Routing Sheets a Second Life… or Third… or Fourth…

Industrial RFID offers a new solution for manual manufacturing systems that typically use routing sheets. Some refer to these routing sheets, which contain build and routing information, as travelers,  process sheets, build sheets, or similar. 

Line workers use the information on the routing sheet to determine what parts need to be used – is this going to be a white or stainless steel refrigerator, will this car get the cold-weather or standard battery – and then sign off on the process.  If a single card could hold all the information, things would not be all that bad.  But in the real world, for instance in the automotive industry, build information and quality control steps can be so complex that several sheets of paper are needed. 

Finding the right page at each process station costs process time.  And what if the operator happens to read the wrong line?  Suddenly the PC that was ordered with a 320 MB hard drive receives a 1 GB drive.  Good for the customer, but bad for the bottom line.  Also, creating the paperwork in the first place is not cheap.  And should a single sheet with build information get lost along the way, there is a good chance that the entire assembly process will come to a halt.

The electronic routing sheet addresses these shortcomings by storing the build information on an RFID tag.  Suddenly, a single, small card is enough, as all it needs to do is hold a paper-thin RFID label.  Users still have the option of printing backup information.  Here is how it works:

• At the beginning of the assembly process, the build information is written to a small RFID tag that is part of the routing sheet or card.  Each card has a unique identification number printed on it.  This number is also on the RFID tag.  The process control system reads this number and associates it with the build information.
• As the product to be assembled goes down the line, the operators use either handheld or fixed-mount RFID readers to obtain the information they need at their respective stations.  The data is displayed on monitors or the integrated display of the handheld readers.
• After the process has been performed, the operators’ acknowledgement is stored on the RFID tag.
• At the end of the line, the data on the electronic routing sheets is retrieved and then erased, making the card ready to be used again.
• No professional manufacturing system is complete without a solid fallback strategy.  This is where the printed serial number comes in.  Should the data on the RFID tag not be accessible, the operators can request a backup dataset from the production control system.  All that is necessary is the serial number of the routing sheet.

Using an electronic routing sheet not only saves money in terms of consumables, it also increases the throughput at each station.  Operators receive their instructions on an easy-to-read station monitor.  In addition to text, images and even short videos can be displayed.  The RFID-enabled electronic routing sheet makes this all possible.