Methods of monitoring items or material from manufacturing processes

• US 7,411,500 B2
• Filed: 09/14/2005
• Issued: 08/12/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 09/14/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: 3M Innovative Properties Company (3M Company)
• Original Assignee: 3M Innovative Properties Company (3M Company)
• Inventors: Hamerly, Michael E., Sainati, Robert A., Jesme, Ronald D., McGee, James P., Ananthanarayanan, Subhalakshmi M., Lorentz, Robert D., Van Bogart, John W., Kostyk, Barry W.
• Primary Examiner(s): Trieu; Van T.
• Application Number:
  US11/226,102
• Publication Number:
  US 20070057789A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,063 Days
• Field of Search: 340/572.1, 340/572.4, 340/572.8, 340/572.9, 340/539.11, 340/10.1, 700/116, 700/115, 701/23, 701/200, 701/201, 426/108, 426/118
• US Class Current: 340/572.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/04 Manufacturing
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/30 Computing systems specially adapted for manufacturing

Abstract

Methods of monitoring items and/or materials from a manufacturing process. One embodiment of the invention provides a method of monitoring items and/or materials from a manufacturing process using a plurality of RFID tagged containers, and a plurality of stations associated with different portions of the manufacturing process, where each station includes an RFID reader.

Claims

1. A method of monitoring items and/or materials from a manufacturing process, comprising the steps of:

providing a manufacturing process, wherein the manufacturing process includes a plurality of stations associated with different portions of the manufacturing process, wherein each station includes a radio frequency identification (“

RFID”

) reader associated with the station;

providing a plurality of RFID tagged containers, wherein each container has an associated RFID tag;

locating at least one of the RFID tagged containers at least at one of the stations;

filling at least a portion of the RFID tagged container with items and/or materials generated from the manufacturing process;

interrogating the RFID tagged container with the RFID reader associated with the station to at least record the location of the station where the RFID tagged container is located, and recording the time of the interrogation;

in response to interrogating the RFID tagged container, obtaining information about the items and/or materials that were placed in the RFID tagged container at the station; and

based on the obtained information, deciding what action to perform with the items and/or materials in the RFID tagged container.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the manufacturing process is a first manufacturing process for manufacturing a first finished good and the plurality of stations are for receiving semi-finished goods, byproducts, or waste generated from the manufacturing process, and wherein the filling step comprises:

filling at least a portion of the RFID tagged container with at least a semi-finished good, byproduct, or waste generated from the manufacturing process at the station.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the filling step comprises:

filling at least a portion of the RFID tagged container with semi-finished goods generated from the first manufacturing process; and

wherein the deciding step comprises;

transporting the semi-finished goods to temporary storage.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the filling step comprises:

filling at least a portion of the RFID tagged container with byproducts generated from the first manufacturing process; and

wherein the deciding step comprises;

transporting the byproducts to a second manufacturing process that is for manufacturing a second finished good, where the byproducts from the first manufacturing process may be used as raw materials in the second manufacturing process.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the filling step comprises:

filling at least a portion of the RFID tagged container with waste generated from the first manufacturing process; and

wherein the deciding step comprises;

weighing the waste in the RFID tagged container, recording the weight, and emptying the RFID tagged container.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the interrogation step further includes recording the date the RFID tagged container was located at the station.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of notifying a user of where to take the items and/or materials in the RFID tagged container after it leaves the station.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising the step of issuing an alert, if the user takes the RFID tagged container to a wrong location.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of issuing an alert, if one of the plurality of stations contains an incorrect number of RFID tagged containers.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the deciding step comprises transporting the RFID tagged container to another location.

11. The method of claim 1,

wherein filling comprises filling at least a portion of the RFID tagged container with at least one of a byproduct or waste generated by the manufacturing process, and

wherein deciding comprises transporting the RFID tagged container to a second manufacturing process, wherein the second manufacturing process may use the byproduct or waste in the RFID tagged container as a raw material or a semi-finished product for use in manufacturing a product.

12. A method for tracking semi-finished goods, byproducts of the manufacturing process, or waste from a manufacturing process, comprising the steps of:

providing a first manufacturing process for manufacturing a first finished good, wherein the manufacturing process includes a plurality of stations for receiving semi-finished goods, byproducts, or waste generated from the manufacturing process, wherein each station includes, a radio frequency identification (“

RFID”

) reader associated with the station;

providing a plurality of RFID tagged containers, wherein each container has an associated RFID tag;

locating at least one of the RFID tagged containers at least at one of the stations;

filling at least a portion of the RFID tagged container with at least a semi-finished good, byproduct, or waste generated from the manufacturing process at the station;

interrogating the RFID tagged container with the RFID reader at the stations;

in response to interrogating the RFID tagged container, obtaining information about the goods, byproducts or waste in the RFID tagged container; and

based on the obtained information, deciding what action to perform with the semi-finished goods, byproducts, or waste in the RFID tagged containers.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the filling step comprises:

filling at least a portion of the RFID tagged container with semi-finished goods generated from the first manufacturing process; and

wherein the deciding step comprises;

transporting the semi-finished goods to temporary storage.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the filling step comprises:

filling at least a portion of the RFID tagged container with byproducts generated from the first manufacturing process; and

wherein the deciding step comprises;

transporting the byproducts to a second manufacturing process that is for manufacturing a second finished good, where the byproducts from the first manufacturing process may be used as raw materials in the second manufacturing process.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the filling step comprises:

filling at least a portion of the RFID tagged container with waste generated from the first manufacturing process; and

wherein the deciding step comprises;

weighing the waste in the RFID tagged container, recording the weight and

emptying the RFID tagged container.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein the interrogation step further includes recording the date the RFID tagged container was located at the station.

17. The method of claim 12, further comprising the step of notifying a user of where to take the items and/or materials in the RFID tagged container after it leaves the station.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising the step of issuing an alert if the user takes the RFID tagged container to a wrong location.

19. The method of claim 12, further comprising the step of issuing an alert, if one of the plurality of stations contains an incorrect number of RFID tagged containers.

20. The method of claim 12, further comprising the step of transporting the RFID tagged container to another location.

21. The method of claim 12,

wherein filling comprises filling at least a portion of the RFID tagged container with at least one of a byproduct or waste generated by the manufacturing process, and

wherein deciding comprises transporting the RFID tagged container to a second manufacturing process, wherein the second manufacturing process may use the byproduct or waste in the RFID tagged container as a raw material or a semi-finished product for use in manufacturing a product.

22. A method of monitoring items and/or materials from a manufacturing process, comprising the steps of:

providing a manufacturing process, wherein the manufacturing process includes a plurality of stations associated with different portions of the manufacturing process, wherein each station includes a radio frequency identification (“

RFID”

) reader associated with the station;

providing a plurality of RFID tagged containers, wherein each container has an associated RFID tag;

locating, at least one of the RFID tagged containers at least at one of the stations;

filling at least a portion of the RFID tagged container with items and/or materials generated from the manufacturing process at the station;

interrogating the RFID tagged container with the RFID reader associated with the station to at least record the location of the station where the RFID tagged container is located, and recording the time of the interrogation;

in response to interrogating the RFID tagged container, obtaining information about the items and/or materials that were placed in the RFID tagged container at the station;

repeating the interrogating and obtaining steps multiple times to gather data over a length of time; and

using the data to optimize or improve the manufacturing process.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the manufacturing process is a first manufacturing process for manufacturing a first finished good and the plurality of stations are for receiving semi-finished goods, byproducts, or waste generated from the manufacturing process, and wherein the filling step comprises:

filling at least a portion of the RFID tagged container with at least a semi-finished good, byproduct, or waste generated from the manufacturing process.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the filling step comprises:

filling at least a portion of the RFID tagged container with semi-finished goods generated from the first manufacturing process; and

wherein the deciding step comprises;

transporting the semi-finished goods to temporary storage.

25. The method of claim 23, wherein the filling step comprises:

filling at least a portion of the RFID tagged container with byproducts generated from the first manufacturing process; and

wherein the deciding step comprises;

transporting the byproducts to a second manufacturing process that is for manufacturing a second finished good, where the byproducts from the first manufacturing process may be used as raw materials in the second manufacturing process.

26. The method of claim 23, wherein the filling step comprises:

filling at least a portion of the RFID tagged container with waste generated from the first manufacturing process; and

wherein the deciding step comprises;

weighing the waste in the RFID tagged container, recording the weight, and emptying the RFID tagged container.

27. The method of claim 22, wherein the interrogation step further includes recording the date the RFID tagged container was located at the station.

28. The method of claim 22, further comprising the step of notifying a user of where to take the items and/or materials in the RFID tagged container after it leaves the station.

29. The method of claim 28, further comprising the step of issuing an alert, if the user takes the RFID tagged container to a wrong location.

30. The method of claim 22, further comprising the step of issuing an alert, if one of the plurality of stations contains an incorrect number of RFID tagged containers.

31. The method of claim 22, wherein the deciding step comprises transporting the RFID tagged container to another location.

32. The method of claim 22,

wherein filling comprises filling at least a portion of the RFID tagged container with at least one of a byproduct or waste generated by the manufacturing process, and

wherein deciding comprises transporting the RFID tagged container to a second manufacturing process, wherein the second manufacturing process may use the byproduct or waste in the RFID tagged container as a raw material or a semi-finished product for use in manufacturing a product.

33. A method comprising:

performing a plurality of processes, wherein each process is performed by one of a plurality of processing stations, and wherein at least one of the processing stations includes a radio frequency identification (RFID) reader;

placing output of at least one of the processing stations into a container that includes an RFID tag, wherein the output is at least one of a byproduct or waste;

interrogating the RFID tag of the container with the RFID reader to record the location of the station where the container is located and the time of the interrogation;

in response to interrogating the RFID tagged container, obtaining information about the output that was placed in the container; and

based on the obtained information, determining an action to perform with the output, wherein the action is not disposal.