Sensors

Existing PLM solutions provide mature methods and functionalities for the management of processes and data of virtual products in the early product lifecycle phases. Appropriate solutions for managing information of individual real physical products within the production, use and end-of-life phases are not available. In this article an approach for a product-individual information management is presented, which is based on a product traceability solution.

In production logistics of the machine and tool manufacturig industry RFID-systems are implemented more and more. Enterprises expect an improvement of efficiency in tracing containers and material provision. Implementation of RFID often fails because the processes should be adopted as they are and limits of the technology are not known sufficiently. This article shows the limits of RFID in tracing containers in production and introduces an approach of implementing RFID-supported processes.

Load carriers as an essential part of the whole supply chain concern suppliers, manufacturers and retailers. In spite of the management of load carriers is still an unattended area within companies, although a holistic regulation and monitoring can gain access to substantial quantitative and qualitative capabilities. The article describes the term of a holistic management of load carriers und presents a framework and levers for an increased capability and a more efficient handling of load carriers.

For simple industrial identification in many cases the traditional barcode systems are more profitable than applying RFID technology. But functional advantages in decentral data handling open up cutting-edge application potential. Improvements in component interoperability enable the implementation of robust and adaptable PPC concepts.

Due to growing demands on logistic processes, increasing transportation costs and a crowded, highly competitive market, margins in this service sector are shrinking. In order to survive, logistics providers will have to reduce internal costs, for example by means of logistic optimization (e.g., scheduling of pickup and delivery). Equally important, they also need to offer their customers additional value-added services, such as tracking and tracing (e.g., temperature logging within the cold chain). These requirements can be seamlessly supported across multiple industries by the event-driven EPCglobal Network.

The implementation of object-identification without contact by Radio Frequency Identification technology (RFID) is in the meantime taken into consideration by many small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) to enhance on the one hand their internal workflows in production and logistics and on the other hand to satisfy customer demands. However, in the last years only little or superficial knowledge of this technology has been acquired. Hence, qualified and certified training for dealing with RFID is highly necessary. Process security shall thus be guaranteed internally and uniform standards within the supply chain regarding the implementation and application of RFID, can be substantiated.

When transporting or storing chemicals or other hazardous materials, certain storage regulations need to be observed to avoid incidents that could cause damage to humans or the environment. In principle, wireless sensor networks can be used to implement a fully automatic monitoring of all storage regulations. However, for the introduction of the technology into real-world applications, some practical problems have to be solved first. Making local decisions within an intelligent network offers many operational benefits, but it also complicates the management and the supervision of the whole system. A service-oriented approach is one possible solution: Business logic is defined in the form of services that can be deployed to individual sensor nodes based on the specific application requirements.

Sensor und RFID technologies are increasingly shaping the logistics processes in production and in the service industry. In order to fully exploit the potential of these technologies, a paradigm change must take place where closed and monolithic company structures are transformed into value networks where a multi-faceted exchange and cooperation between companies is the rule. To make this transition attractive for all (or most) participants, the resulting cooperation relationships must be restructured with technical, economical and organizational aspects in mind.

The international exchange of goods and products is growing steadily. Information technologies now in use are unable to sufficiently organize the flows of goods both more securely and more reliably: Losses from misdirected containers, pallets and luggage run in the tens and hundreds of millions. Modern solutions not only have to provide the capability to positively identify mobile objects of different kinds and in changing environmental conditions but also to localize them, communicate with them, navigate them and control them.

In efficient process chains, economic advantages can be accomplished by the use of reusable loading devices. Due to their outer shape they allow a standardized handling of different goods using the already available equipment. Adequate design and a modular structure provide the opportunity for efficient loading and unloading processes of various goods. Keeping in mind the amount of loading devices currently in use (a few million), their economic relevance becomes apparent. The Institute for Mechanical Handling and Logistics (IFT) at the University of Stuttgart is currently working on two different research projects that involve the construction and thus optimisation of standardized loading devices for different industries and purposes.