UTILIZING AN RFID TAG IN MANUFACTURING FOR ENHANCED LIFECYCLE MANAGEMENT

• US 20080266058A1
• Filed: 07/15/2008
• Published: 10/30/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 02/23/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Komatsu, Jeffrey George, Erickson, Steven C., Syme, Fraser Allan, Knipfer, Ivory Wellman
• Granted Patent: US 8,421,600 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/10.1
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/128 the workpiece itself serves as a record carrier, e.g. by its form, by marks or codes on it
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/31034 Component identifier and location indicator corresponding to component
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/31288 Archive collected data into history file
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/31322 Work still to be done on workpiece
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/0723 the record carrier comprising an arrangement for non-contact communication, e.g. wireless communication circuits on transponder cards, non-contact smart cards or RFIDs
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/01 Details
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/02 Total factory control, e.g. smart factories, flexible manufacturing systems [FMS] or integrated manufacturing systems [IMS]

Abstract

Data associated with supply chain events for a manufactured assembly is automatically stored. In preferred embodiments the supply chain events for the manufactured assembly are stored on an RFID tag attached to the assembly as it travels through the supply chain to insure the data concerning the assembly is readily available and not separated from the assembly. In other embodiments, the supply chain events or characteristic data is stored on the RFID tag in a hierarchical structure beginning with the original state of the assembly and with additional entries for each step in the assembly process. In other embodiments, as the product undergoes rework, conversion to a different assembly, or personalizations, the new state of the assembly is stored in the RFID tag. In other preferred embodiments, other information is also stored on the RFID tag such as country of origin, failure data, cycle times and a quality status indicator.

Claims

1. A method for utilizing an RFID tag in manufacturing comprising the steps of:

storing data for an initial manufacturing event in an as built history on the RFID tag associated with a manufactured assembly;

storing additional data for a second manufacturing event into the as built history on the RFID tag, wherein the initial and second manufacturing events include a part number and other data for a sub-assembly of the manufactured assembly.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of storing the additional data for the second manufacturing event comprises reading the data for the initial manufacturing event and concatenating the data for the new manufacturing event and storing the concatenated data in the as built history.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of storing the additional data for the second manufacturing event comprises storing the data for the new manufacturing event in a linked list in the as built history.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the RFID tag comprises a micro-controller to control commands received from the RFID reader to store a plurality of manufacturing events in the linked list.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the initial and second manufacturing events include a vendor ID, a part number, a serial number, a date and time, and other associated data for each manufacturing event.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the second manufacturing event includes at least one quality status parameter.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the at least one quality status parameter includes a good/no good indication of the usability of the assembly.

8. A tangible, computer-readable signal bearing medium bearing computer-executable instructions for performing the method of claim 1.

9. The RFID tag of claim 1 wherein the initial manufacturing event is stored by a first vendor and the second manufacturing event is stored by a second vendor during a manufacturing process of the manufactured assembly.

10. The RFID tag of claim 1 further comprising a micro-controller to control commands from the RFID reader to store the plurality of manufacturing events in a dynamically linked list.