Automation Equipment Maker Sees
Success In Unit-Level Pilot

Rockwell Automation recently implemented and completed its own RFID program to more efficiently track product distribution and capture shipping data to meet international customs requirements.

In response to a growing international customer base and an expanding product portfolio, the company relocated portions of its production to regions outside North America. Though more efficient from a manufacturing standpoint, this strategy added a layer of logistical complexity.

Despite the highly automated control system in place at the company's 181,000-square-foot Champaign, Ill.-based distribution center, Rockwell quickly realized it lacked the capability to meet increasingly complex international shipping demands, including critical "country of origin" tracking requirements. The facility ships an average of 13,000 orders a day globally.

"With more of our manufacturing operations being distributed around the world, we needed to be able to accurately identify the place of origin of each product," explains Greg Hubbert, director of logistics for Rockwell.

For example, says Hubbert, if a customer ordered 10 pieces of a particular product, and five were made in the U.S. and the other five were made in China, the shipment would be assessed a different import tax based on where the products were manufactured. Thus, says Hubbert, it was critical that Rockwell properly identify and track the country of origin to ensure that accurate taxes were being assessed within the destination country.

Further, says Hubbert, Rockwell found that RFID could support several other important functions, such as serial number capture, which would help boost process efficiency and quality.

Specifically, the company could eliminate the need to scan serial numbers, increase the quality control audit from 25% to 100% of orders, and eliminate piece counting in the cycle count process.

"We realized that RFID was going to continue to grow, and by implementing it we would receive several ancillary benefits," says Hubbert. "So there was a good business case to use the technology and save on labor costs while increasing shipping efficiency and quality control."

Additionally, says Hubbert, Rockwell identified the potential to track requirements needed to meet RoHS (Restriction of Hazardous Substances) and WEEE (Waste from Electrical and Electronic Equipment) compliance, and wanted the capability to track a product through its lifecycle.

In order to minimize the impact on existing operations, Rockwell moved forward with the RFID unit-based pilot program to track products originating from its Twinsburg, Ohio-based manufacturing plant through the Champaign distribution center, which stocks more than 20,000 product SKUs.

The pilot program focused on the data capture of an EPC tag that is linked with an individual product's unique serial number. This information is passed back to the warehouse management system to fulfill serial number capture requirements for specific products.

The ability to provide RFID-tagged finished goods would ultimately allow the Champaign facility to reduce costs. Specifically, the technology would improve cycle count efficiency by eliminating piece part counting. RFID would also allow Rockwell to automate the transfer of serial numbers for products that currently required an extra barcode scan. Moreover, with RFID fully integrated into the receiving process, the technology would help improve visibility, accuracy, and productivity within the company's supply chain.

The 257,000-square-foot Twinsburg plant serves as one of the core manufacturing hubs for the company. The plant produces more than 1,700 different products, including programmable controllers, input/output (I/O) cards, communication interfaces, and motion controllers, with production volume ranging from 100 to 500,000 per year for each product. Rockwell identified three serialized products to be used in the pilot program.

The RFID program at the Twinsburg plant operates like most RFID processes: finished products exit the production line and are packaged into a shipping box. Operators then attach a barcode label (which contains a serial number), as well as an Alien Technologies RFID tag. The box is passed under an RFID antenna where the RFID tag ID is read and uploaded into a database where it is linked with the product ID and serial number.

Upon arrival at the Champaign distribution center, the RFID tag is read at the dock door, and the product is transferred to a designated area of the warehouse. When the product is picked to fill an order, the barcode is scanned with a handheld reader, and the product is placed onto a conveyor system. At the quality control station, an antenna portal reads the tag and captures the product data, allowing the company to link the serial number and product to a particular order.

The software system purges any tags that are read twice so that the database accurately represents the number of products passing through the system.

At the last stage, the product is boxed and shipped to the customer. On an average day, between 50 and 100 RFID-tagged pieces pass through the scanners and are shipped to distributors.

The RFID solution was integrated successfully within the existing distribution process, and after one year into the pilot program, the first stage is complete.

"The pilot program was a proof-of-concept and learning opportunity," Hubbert states. "We wanted to show that the technology could completely replace the barcode scanning system currently being used, and be easily integrated into our existing distribution process with minimal disruption. By starting small and focusing on a limited number of SKUs, we were able to get management buy-in on the pilot program and gather the documentation necessary for expansion of the program."