Intelligent management of RFID technology in automobile production and manufacturing solutions

1.Project background

1.1 Industry background

In the context of the rapid development of the automobile industry and the increasing competition, various automobile manufacturers are pursuing the optimization of management systems. From the beginning, we only pursued the optimization of the final results, to the current requirement to achieve the optimal goal in every link of manufacturing automobiles. This has raised a serious question for managers, how to control the details of the production process. , how to record as much information as possible on the production process. Through the analysis of production data, solutions are finally formulated to optimize the production process. Give enterprises more advantages in market competition.

As the first step in vehicle manufacturing, stamping plays a vital role in the quality of the vehicle. A large amount of production data needs to be summarized and analyzed. These data statistics work requires a lot of manpower, and most of the statistical data has information lag problems. Solutions to problems discovered during the production process cannot be made in a timely manner, and manual statistical information The project is single and it is difficult to find the correlation between multiple problems. Also, because the available logistics area in the factory area is getting smaller and smaller, there are correspondingly more and more problems caused by logistics constraints. It is necessary to change the existing logistics methods and introduce informatization in order to adapt to the logistics requirements under the fast-paced production model.

1.2 Stamping process

The temperature and humidity in the production process of the stamping workshop are close to room temperature. The main production equipment is the punch press, including stamping abrasive Tools, and the main transmission equipment is pallets and trolleys. The pallet is used to load the plates before stamping, and the trolley is used to load the parts after stamping. The surrounding environment is mainly made of metal.

The stamping production technology and process are fixed and are less affected by customer customization. Production content is usually scheduled according to the enterprise's production plan.

The stamping process usually begins with the supplier transporting the sheets to be supplied to the stamping workshop. After the stamping workshop passes the quality inspection, it will be put into storage. After being put into storage, the plates can be moved to the next step. Forklift workers transport the entire pallet to the press feed port as needed. The designated parts are then punched out in the press and flowed to the downstream location via a conveyor belt.

Workers at the off-line position will inspect the parts and put them on the trolley according to the specified quantity. After the qualified parts are filled, they are transported to the warehouse by forklift workers for storage. Trolleys of unqualified parts will also be transported to the repair area to await repair.

At this point, the stamping process is completed, and the post-process is to supply the parts in the warehouse to the welding workshop on demand. The usual operation method is that the forklift personnel of the stamping department pick up and place the parts trolley onto the welding tractor according to the task order, and then the tractor enters through the welding workshop door, which means that the parts have been shipped out of the warehouse. Tractors can typically haul anywhere from 1 to 4 parts trolleys at a time.

1.3 Management status

Stamping molds are managed manually, and information registration is not timely. Scheduling records are prone to errors and take up a lot of space. At the same time, due to the lack of effective supervision means, the production and use status of the mold cannot be fully controlled, and there is a lack of scientific decision-making on the daily maintenance and scrapping of the mold.

For materials, the inventory quantity directly affects the production progress of stamping parts, and the inventory status of parts directly affects the normal operation of other subsequent processes. Therefore, the warehouse management of materials and parts is very important for vehicle production.

However, the traditional manual management method cannot count the inventory quantity in a timely manner, and at the same time, there is a problem of statistical deviation. Once the inventory quantity is too small, it will directly cause the back-end process to stop. Once the production is too much, the inventory time will be long, which will affect the quality of the production parts and easily cause a waste of resources.

Therefore, the introduction of new information technology can realize the full life cycle tracking and management of molds, record the production, incoming and outgoing of stamping raw materials and parts in real time, improve the efficiency of inter-warehouse logistics operations, and simplify the original tedious and complex information statistics work. Transparency is of great significance in helping the stamping workshop achieve intelligence, informatization and automation of key material management.

1.4 Technical introduction

RFID is the abbreviation of Radio Frequency Identification, that is, radio frequency identification. The main features of RFID are large-capacity information storage, contactless remote information reading, rewritable, recyclable, and strong environmental adaptability. These characteristics of RFID are very suitable for use in the vehicle production process. Its role in material and product tracking has had a great impact on automobile production logistics.

RFID technology has been widely used in automobile production. By using RFID for fast scanning, barrier-free reading, etc., data can be collected and processed quickly and accurately to achieve standardization and efficiency of management. The RFID system in the stamping workshop can record the incoming and outgoing status of stamping parts in real time, query the inventory of stamping parts, and achieve on-time supply when supplying parts to other workshops and reduce unnecessary inventory waste; monitor everything from blank sheet processing to finished parts delivery. Warehouse the entire stamping production process. Through long-term statistics of qualified parts, repaired parts, and scrapped parts, the cost of a single part can be calculated more accurately. Through data analysis, we can find out the areas that affect efficiency and waste in each link of production, provide data support for more reasonable and efficient use of stamping production lines, and make the cost of the company's stamping manufacturing links more transparent.

2. System construction

2.1 Construction goals

Through the introduction of RFID technology, a new management method is provided for the management of materials and parts in the stamping workshop. While maintaining the existing process flow, it can improve the refined management capabilities of materials and parts inventory, reduce personnel investment, and improve The accuracy and real-time nature of inventory data enables the efficient operation of workshop material logistics and helps the stamping workshop to make scientific decisions in terms of scheduling and production scheduling.

2.2 Construction content

When materials are received: Use the RFID handheld device to scan the QR code on the outer packaging of the incoming material and the corresponding pallet RFID code for qualified materials, read the corresponding information of the material (material number, package number, quantity, processing manufacturer, etc.), and then The information is bound to the RFID code of this pallet in the inventory management system. After the binding work is completed, the material is considered to be in storage.

When materials go online: Install an RFID Reader and antenna on the loading door. When the material passes through the loading door, the read-write head reads the corresponding information, and the corresponding materials in the system are processed out of the warehouse.

When parts come off the line: RFID readers and antennas are installed on the packing station at the end of the line. The reading and writing distance should be controlled within one trolley. When the press is produced, the antenna receives the press production information and communicates with the corresponding parts trolley in the system. The loading capacity is matched, and the production trolley at the end of the line is written as qualified and full. Finally, the unsatisfied trolleys have their RFID information read through a handheld device from outside the line and entered into the inventory management system for modification.

Parts warehousing: Install RFID readers at each warehousing door. The readers will read the RFID when qualified parts are put into the warehouse.

Coding, and the qualified parts corresponding to the coding are processed in the system.

Parts delivery: Parts are delivered to the welding logistics door, and an RFID reader is installed on the welding logistics door. When the parts are delivered, the reader reads the RFID code, and the parts with corresponding codes are removed from the warehouse in the system. deal with. When the trolley enters stamping again, the quantity will not be changed.

3.System design

3.1 System framework

In order to realize the function of this system, the core idea of the system design is to install numbered RFID tags on the pallets for transferring materials and the trolleys for transferring parts. The tag information is associated and bound with each material information, and RFID readers are installed at each process control node. The writer uses the RFID reader to acquire RFID tag information to obtain material information, thereby achieving the purpose of automated, intelligent and information-based management.

The system planning framework diagram is as follows:

RFID automobile manufacturing

The data center performs system and data storage operations and completes business process processing. The card issuer is used to initialize RFID tag information. The system also has other necessary management functions, including equipment management, report printing, etc.

The fixedly installed RFID equipment is a fixed reader. In this system, RFID fixed readers will be installed at the loading point, the offline point, the entry and exit of the warehouse.

Equipped with RFID mobile equipment to facilitate mobile operations such as material receipt, defective parts, tailing, maintenance, etc.

RFID tags need to be installed on trolleys, pallets and molds to make material information electronic and provide the basis for automatic identification. Moreover, depending on the requirements of the system and the structural characteristics of the materials being managed, multiple tags may need to be installed on the same material.

4.2 System deployment

According to the functional requirements of this system project, the system can be divided into five subsystems: material income, material online, parts offline, parts warehousing, parts outgoing, and mold management.

4.2.1 Material revenue subsystem

The material receipt subsystem is mainly responsible for warehousing qualified materials. In this link, based on the characteristics of the existing business process, the system is designed to use a handheld device to scan the QR code on the outer packaging of the incoming material and the corresponding pallet RFID code, and read the corresponding information of the material (material number, package number, quantity , processing manufacturers, etc.), and bind this information to this pallet RFID code in the inventory management system. After the binding is completed, the materials will wait to be put into storage.

RFID inventory management

Install RFID codes at appropriate locations on raw material pallets. After the RFID code is installed, the structure of the pallet itself can be used to provide necessary protection for the RFID code, so that the pallet will not cause RFID damage during the logistics process.

The damage of the code ensures the long-term and reliable use of the RFID code. Through the RFID handheld device, scan the QR code of the raw materials, scan the RFID code of the pallet, complete the binding of the raw material information and the pallet information, and then wait for storage.

After the raw materials pass quality inspection and are bound to the pallet through the RFID handheld device, they will be picked up by a forklift and sent to the material warehouse. Installing RFID scanning equipment at the entrance of the material warehouse will record the warehousing information of materials in real time, thereby helping to effectively manage inventory.

RFID forklift warehousing

3.2.2 Material online subsystem

An RFID reader and antenna are installed on the loading door. When the material passes through the loading door, the read-write head reads the corresponding information, and the corresponding materials in the system are processed out of the warehouse.

RFID delivery

3.2.3 Parts offline subsystem

This subsystem is mainly responsible for completing the automatic association and binding of part information and trolley information when parts come off the production line. The system design plan is as follows:

RFID parts offline subsystem

Mount the antenna below the parts packing point.

RFID Antenna packing point

3.2.4 Parts warehousing subsystem

RFID readers are installed at each warehousing door. When qualified parts are put into the warehouse, the read-write head reads the RFID code, and the parts with corresponding codes are qualified for warehousing processing in the system.

RFID parts warehousing

Because the trolleys can be stacked into the warehouse, there is the possibility of multiple trolleys in the vertical direction. In order to ensure the recognition rate of the trolley tags, an antenna is deployed in the upper and lower directions on both sides of the warehouse to achieve maximum Range of reads.

3.2.5 Parts delivery subsystem

Parts are shipped out of the warehouse to the welded logistics door, and an RFID read-write head is installed on the welded logistics door. When the parts are shipped out of the warehouse, the read-write head reads the RFID code, and the parts with corresponding codes are processed in the system.

RFID parts delivery

When parts are shipped out of the warehouse, the trolleys are pulled by tractors into the welding workshop in sequence, and there is no overlapping. Therefore, in this link, only one antenna is installed on the left and right sides of the welding workshop door.