The BMW Group has named the active RFID real-time locating system (RTLS) technology from wireless tracking technology firm WhereNet Corporation as its global standards, and says it will accelerate the technology''s rollout in 2005.

     Already installed at BMW plants in Dingolfing, Munich, and Regensburg, Germany, WhereNet''s vehicle location system will go live this year at additional BMW plants in Leipzig, Germany and Rosslyn, South Africa, and at the MINI plant in Oxford, United Kingdom. 116.30.197.100 This article is copyright 2005 UsingRFID.com.

     According to Joshua Greenbaum, principal, Enterprise Applications Consulting, "While other industries are just now starting to understand the ability of RFID to transform business processes, the automotive industry has been using active RFID applications for several years with great success."

New car tracking
     The motor manufacturer''s plants use WhereNet''s vehicle location system to locate any one of the new vehicles that come off the assembly line each day. With such real-time visibility to every vehicle parked anywhere across the factory premises, BMW is able to improve customer satisfaction by expediting delivery of every custom ordered vehicle.

     The system''s infrastructure consists of WhereLAN locating access points that provide complete coverage of all monitored areas, WherePort devices that detect when a vehicle enters or departs a particular work area, and WhereTag active RFID transmitters that are programmed to transmit once every four minutes. An assembly line operator affixes a temporary WhereTag, associated with the vehicle identification number to every car as it rolls off the assembly line. The system provides constant connectivity to any tagged vehicle, whether inside the factory or parked outside.

Find and finish
     When BMW''s Assembly Finish System calls up a vehicle for finishing, an employee can find its location in real time on the intranet via a web browser as the application graphically displays the location of every car in the plant. When each new vehicle is declared ready for shipping, the WhereTag is removed and recycled so that it can be associated with another new vehicle on the assembly line.

     Matt Armanino, senior vice president of corporate development for WhereNet, commented: "The days of sending a team of workers to search for a vehicle are over - now they just click on a screen and see the location of every car in the plant."

 

 

 

                                                                                                              Extract From Using RFID