Client company:
A multinational company specialising in confectionery production
Scope of the solution
during the construction phase of a fully automated production and logistics plant, hired KFI to implement a tracking system for outgoing goods.
More specifically, the client wanted:
- to identify the pallets
- to carry out the activity quickly and accurately
- to get automatic feedback
The solution
KFI’s sweet recipe
Following the analysis of the processes, KFI and the customer have identified RFID technology as the ideal tool to quickly and with the utmost precision track the goods leaving the plant.
Specifically, the C&S team envisaged the installation of a labelling station/unit at the end of the production line and an RFID gateway at each of the four loading bays of the warehouse.
The pallets with the packaged confectionery packages, moved by a conveyor belt, arrive at the labelling station. Here, the KFI AP180 automatic applicator reads the SSCC code placed on the pallet and obtains the information to create an RFID tag which is then applied quickly and with maximum accuracy on the pallet.
Once the tag has been applied, the pallet is stored waiting for the automatic warehouse to convey it to the correct loading bay on the occasion of the next delivery order.
In the shipping phase, the pallet, always moved by conveyor belts, passes through the RFID gate, located at the entrance to the loading bay, where a control unit equipped with antennas detects the information from the tag applied to the pallet, communicating the data to the information system for registering the outgoing goods and updating stocks.
In order to supervise the process, a display was placed next to the gate, from which the operator monitors the outgoing pallets, receiving feedback based on traffic light logic.
A tasty alternative
In case of need, the customer has the possibility to switch in complete autonomy to a manual management of the process. This is possible by using a Honeywell palmtop combined with an RFID reader from ELATEC, a specialist company in RFID solutions.
Thanks to this rigging, the operator can register the goods output in a very simple way, guaranteeing the system all the data necessary for its updating.
The results
The cherry on the cake
RFID technology allows effective tracking of all outgoing pallets, even if two pass simultaneously through the gates. The client company was therefore able to create a fully automated process for the management of the goods, from packaging to their loading onto the means of transport. In this context, it is therefore unnecessary to dedicate operators to reading the product codes and it is possible to ship pallets that are always correct with extremely fast work rates.