17.10.2011

Friweika - logident, UDL 120

Automated container management from the field to processing

In the harvest season from August to October up to 10,000 large containers of the agricultural cooperative Friweika are loaded directly in the fields with potatoes. The name Friweika stands for fresh Weidensdorfer potatoe products and for guaranteeing innovation, progress, quality and production efficiency in the German potatoe industry for around 40 years. The ultra-modern operation which stores, processes and markets potatoes as fresh products, started already in 2002 with the preview of active transponders. For the inventory of containers and the determination of goods production quantities the Friweika eG introduced an RFID-based container management at the entrance in August 2008. At the beginning of 2009, the second rollout followed with forklift reading performance, which put the containers in well defined geological storage places. "The RFID in use  gives us an exact inventory management for our containers", is the conclusion of Marion Velebil, Friweika. The aim is to achieve the continuous recording of the production up to the suppliers using RFID technology.

Tasks in the goods received area:

• Identification of large containers directly on the truck (Capacity: 6 tons of potatoes per case, by-products: water, earth, metal, organisms)
• 10 large containers per train
• Reception and automatic weighing of the charge with confirmation of receipt
• 24 hours of reliable continuous operation, even with "bad weather"(rain, snow, ice, frost)
• Reliability
• Container Management
• Billing of the deliveries to Comrades

Solution:

• Equipment boxes with UHF ISO 18000-6 C EPC Class1 Gen 2 transponders
• Installation of two readers UDL 500 at the entrance and exit
• Activation trigger (radar detector)
• Following the ERP programm
• First rollout August 2008

Tasks in the warehouse and production management:

• Container and inventory management ("Where is the corresponding box?")
• Fork lift systemRun through organization ("At what point is the potato?")
• Batch tracking
• Optimization of production

Solution:

• UDL 120 UHF-Reader for industrial trucks
• Transponders at the relevant product equipment
• Terminal driver with client for the transport orders / confirmation
• Localization of the product using passive transponders

The mounted Reader UDL 120 between the forks identifies the appropriate box and the tags on the product plant. Thus, the current box (charge) and position is visible in the ERP system. A transparent, fast and automatic process is guaranteed.