German bathroom and kitchen fittings manufacturer Hansgrohe has implemented UPM Raflatac’s inlays into its RFID-assisted assembly processes.
The company uses RFID-enabled kanban cards to track the flow of containers between its two production sites resulting in accelerated goods receipt and visibility.
A barcoded kanban card with an imbedded RFID inlay is attached inside the sleeves of all shipping containers as they leave the company’s Schiltach factory, which carries all the data for each component inside.
The containers are then shipped to a production facility in Offenburg where assembly takes place. Once complete personnel pull the kanban cards into an RFID reader which identifies each card by its unique ID number and gathers data about the components used into a back-end system.
This data is then transferred to Hansgrohe’s enterprise resource planning system. As a result of the process each member of the assembly personnel is now able to allocate an extra hour each day to additional tasks.
Hansgrohe has said it is now considering the use of RFID technology to further increase the automation and transparency of its logistics processes.
