Simple Solutions That Work! Issue 17

JACK PALMER President Palmer Manufacturing & Supply, Inc. ARTICLE TAKEAWAYS: • Deploying RFID in core and mold making • Advantages of using RFID throughout the plant for production, tracking parts and equipment RFID Basics for Core & Mold Making M any human errors in supply chain, inventory management, and production can be easily solved with RFID (radio frequency identification tags). RFID can accurately count and track your incoming boxes, raw materials, inventory, tools, and equipment as well as ensure your production machine settings are correct. One of the significant benefits that foundries will appreciate is that RFID is not new. Over the years, RFID technology has only become better. All kinds of business are now using it for greater accuracy, which naturally increases the quality of their parts or services. Think about how many times you see an RFID scanner these days for tracking management. Then start thinking about how you track inside your foundry and how many times an error is made in your processes, or the time it takes to correct an inventory recount, to finding your own expensive equipment—and then you will have found a place for RFID. But RFID tags ensure more than just tracking; in production they provide a guarantee that your machine settings and recipes are correct. HOW RFID WORKS RFID is a programmable (read/ write) identification system that stores and retrieves data, using radio frequency identification tags. The tags are fastened to your equipment, parts inventory or in production—to your mold and core boxes. The tags communicate wirelessly with the tag to the data. Your data can include mixer run time, resin percentages and ratios, additives, as well as compaction table vibration settings. The production data can also be incorporated into your company- wide system. RFID is portable – it can easily be used on a specific equipment or process. Or, it can be used throughout your entire facility. RFID is versatile and flexible making it ideal for all kinds of manufacturing facilities, large and small. And, you can easily start small with RFID and grow with it very cost effectively. RFID systems are designed to handle extreme temperatures, making them ideal for the foundry production floor. The foundry floor is massively undergoing changes ranging from 3D printing to completely automated work cells, all with the same intent; to reduce waste and increase results. Many of these changes are quite costly and require significant worker training. RFID, in comparison is not as expensive nor difficult to deploy, and you can see the results on a smaller scale before you elect to go plant-wide. Of all of the ways you could reduce human errors and increase quality that is repeatable, RFID has to be one of the easiest to deploy, and see immediate results. MOLD & CORE PRODUCTION RFID in core making is one of the easiest places to add RFID and see immediate improvement in your castings, and reduction in costs due to reduced errors. The more core boxes a foundry has, the greater the benefits. The process of adding a tag and attaching it to the bottom of each core box is easy. The tags (compliant with ISO 18000-3, ISO 15693, and ISO 14443 standards) each have a unique identification number that is read when the box is presented to the core machine. Then, during set-up the workers enters the setting for that particular core into the PLC. Once that setting is entered, it is saved permanently for that recipe. Continued on next page 15 BACK TO BASICS