With heavy competition and rising consumer expectations, manufacturing businesses are on the lookout for ways to streamline their operations and improve manufacturing efficiency. Radio frequency identification (RFID) technology has proven to be an extremely effective solution, allowing workers to quickly identify and track assets by location throughout the supply chain.

Whereas barcode tracking requires a direct line of sight and can only provide a certain level of data, RFID readers can easily track everything within the vicinity, and provide information on assets with pinpoint accuracy.

If you are looking for a way to improve manufacturing efficiency within your operations, here are a few ways RFID can help:

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Inventory Management

RFID has made great strides in improving inventory accuracy and providing accurate counts. Rather than requiring manual inventory counts be made, RFID can take in a wider range of data much quicker. Since no direct line of sight is required, you can complete inventory counts in mere minutes.

Strategically placing RFID readers around your warehouse allows you to keep track of progress. This can improve manufacturing efficiency while providing real-time visibility into inventory levels so you can easily monitor inventory levels and prevent against shrinkage. This is useful if you need to track expensive containers, pallets, or even individual assets. You get a real-time view of when products enter and leave your facility.

Workflow Optimization

RFID doesn’t require a direct line of sight, workers don’t have to go and manually find each barcode one by one to scan. By automating your data collection processes, you save on labor and virtually eliminate human error.

When you place sensors at the door, you can enable workers to drive forklifts full of inventory and assets into your warehouse, and it automatically scans all RFID tags as items pass through your doors. Since no direct line of sight is needed, inventory items don’t have to be counted and scanned one-by-one. RFID tags could effectively replace barcode labels so that you can easily collect data and improve manufacturing efficiency through warehouse automation.

Asset Management

Unlike barcodes, RFID technology doesn’t just tell you whether or not an item has been received or is in stock, it also tells you the exact location, which further reduces inventory errors that could be caused by misplaced inventory and drastically improve manufacturing efficiency. The value of RFID increases with the value of the item being tracked, because this method improves both accuracy and security, while helping to increase productivity within your operation itself.

RFID sensors can be placed in a variety of areas around the warehouse, so the nearest sensor can tell workers where an order is located. This expedites the shipping process, because it allows inventory to be easily located without requiring workers to spend time tracking an order down and searching the entire warehouse for it if it isn’t in the correct place. Orders can be picked and shipped in minimal time.

Manufacturing solutions from Honeywell are great at helping boost efficiency, quality control, and workflow automation within your operation. This technology takes labor-intensive tasks and transforms them into simple, efficient processes driven by automation.

Interested in learning more about Honeywell’s manufacturing solutions and how RFID can improve manufacturing efficiency? Contact Informs, Inc. today!