Intelligent long range RFID technology from Identec Solutions is now being used by Autotrade & Logistics in Italy to track and process imported consumer vehicles, with the aim of increasing efficiency and vehicle visibility.

     Autotrade & Logistics (A&L) is responsible for "dock to door" vehicle services, which include the handling and outfitting of vehicles for OEMs such as Kia, Mitsubishi, Hyundai and Ssangyong for domestic and international distribution in some European countries. The company has all 15,000 vehicles on its parking lot equipped with an Identec RFID tag, and relies on the intelligent long range (ILR) system to expedite the throughput of approximately 3,000 vehicles per day across an area of 600,000 square metres. 116.30.147.133 This article is copyright 2004 UsingRFID.com.

Track and trace
     As each vehicle arrives at the inland platform, an active RFID tag containing a unique identifier is attached to the vehicle''s chassis. The ILR system uses RF communication between the tag and RFID readers to track and monitor the vehicle as it travels through four key processes (storage, maintenance, finishing, and inspection) until it is ready to be loaded onto a truck and transported to its final destination.

Despatch monitoring
     When vehicles are ready to be transported, handheld computers are used to read their RFID tags, verify that the right cars with the right requirements are being loaded onto the right trucks, and then the tags are removed, ready to be recycled. In addition to verifying vehicle location, ILR enables A&L staff to monitor each vehicle''s status and progress in real time to ensure quality, FIFO (first in, first out), and to monitor key measurements such as dwell times and exceptions. By ensuring each vehicle meets requirements, and by speeding up the process of locating specific vehicles on the lot, immense cost savings from reduced labour, productivity gains, and accurate shipments are projected.

Cost savings
     "The costs related to finding vehicles, processing each vehicle, and wrong deliveries are extremely high. The logistics involved are error-prone and very difficult to monitor accurately and cost-effectively," explained Cesare Tambussi, managing director for Autotrade & Logistics. 

     "We were originally considering bar codes but, when we saw the Identec Solutions system at work in a similar environment, we knew that its real-time visibility, speed, and accuracy would be the best solution in our environment."

Further deployments
     According to Gerhard Schedler, Identec''s vice president of global sales and marketing, the whole system was deployed in less than 30 days, with the roll-out process having been completed in the past few weeks.

     Following this first RFID deployment at A&L''s facility, Tambussi expects to implement the same model for the company''s other distribution centres to improve logistics and security.

 

 

 

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