Apr 17, 2023RFID Journal LIVE! 2023 will feature end-user companies discussing RFID's use in various industries, as well as exhibitors offering tagging solutions for multiple applications. To learn more, visit the event's website.
Ed. Note: This article was previously posted at IoP Journal.
Vestel International, one of Turkey's leading technology companies, has implemented an ultra-wideband (UWB)-based real-time location system (RTLS) from Wipelot, and it reports that it has achieved multiple savings with the technology. The project is an RFID Journal Award finalist in the category of Best RFID or IoT Manufacturing Implementation (see Finalists Announced for 17th Annual RFID Journal Awards), and the award winners will be announced at this year's RFID Journal LIVE! conference and exhibition, being held on May 9-11, 2023, in Orlando, Fla.
Vestel City
In the European market, Vestel is among the top three television manufacturers and the top five white goods manufacturers. More than 100 motorized pieces of equipment are in use at Vestel City, where a variety of products, ranging from home appliances to electronics and computers, are produced in an area measuring 1.3 million square meters (14 million square feet).
Damla Toros Çağlar
According to Damla Toros Çağlar, a Wipelot product manager, the unplanned downtime of motorized equipment, its failure to follow optimum routes or its departure from a work area during production processes can cumulatively disrupt operations and cause production efficiencies to decrease significantly. "Since the industrial facility's equipment is leased," she explains, "there was a request to determine the optimum amount of equipment during rental periods, based on the needs assessment."
Tolga Özdenli
Tolga Özdenli, Vestel's automation and project-development manager, sought to track forklifts in order to prevent losses, and so the company began working with Wipelot to create an RTLS solution. Wipelot installed UWB-based active radio frequency identification (RFID) devices in the production area, allowing Vestel to track the real-time locations of personnel and equipment, as well as monitor routes taken based on date and time, and control equipment efficiency in both the short and long terms.
Another benefit, Özdenli says, is that the system has increased the visibility of operations and now provides various analyses. "After the implementation," he reports, "Vestel achieved 50-centimeter [20-inch] precision with the UWB-based real-time location system. During the renewal of manufacturing equipment rentals, the right type and quantity of each were better known, depending on Vestel's needs."
Özdenli says the company achieved multiple savings with the technology, such as decreasing shift-start losses by 67 percent, with greater productivity and efficiency, as well as a workforce reduction of 3.1 percent, and a decrease in energy consumption by 3.1 percent and occupational accidents by 15 percent. Çağlar will present Vestel's case study, "Appliance Manufacturer Improves Efficiencies with RFID," at LIVE! 2023.
