RFID-based product manufacturing and lifecycle management

• US 7,931,197 B2
• Filed: 09/20/2005
• Issued: 04/26/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/20/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies Incorporated (Allen-Bradley Co., Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies Incorporated (Allen-Bradley Co., Inc.)
• Inventors: Brandt, David D., Pai, Ramdas M.
• Primary Examiner(s): ST CYR, DANIEL
• Application Number:
  US11/230,758
• Publication Number:
  US 20070063029A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,044 Days
• Field of Search: 235/385, 235/383, 235/462.13, 235/462.46, 235/380
• US Class Current: 235/385
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08 Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management

Abstract

Architecture that utilizes RFID technology in product manufacturing and lifecycle management to track the depletion of inventory, verify the correctness of a part, monitor the completeness of an assembled product, and check a returned product to determine warranty procedure. An RFID reader, or reader/writer, can sense information of an RFID tag associated with an item at various stages of product life. The information can be compared with data associated with the RFID-tagged item, and appropriate action can be taken based on the comparison. A machine learning and reasoning component can be utilized to generate automatic action based on the information.

Claims

1. A system that facilitates item management, comprising:

an item receiving component that automatically detects a radio frequency identification (RFID) tagged item for processing;

a tracking component that tracks inventory depletion of the RFID tagged item during operation of an industrial assembly process, the tracking component employs at least one of probabilistic or statistical analysis to infer an inventory requirement of the RFID tagged item and determine an optimal inventory point to generate an inventory replenishment request for the RFID tagged item, the tracking component generates a replenishment request when a quantity of the RFID tagged item reaches the optimal inventory point; and

a replenishment component that delivers additional RFID tagged items.

2. The system of claim 1, the item receiving component communicates information from an RFID tag associated with the item to the tracking component.

3. The system of claim 1, the item receiving component comprises an RFID reader, a user interface, and one or more dataform readers.

4. The system of claim 3, the RFID reader is located on a container that includes the tagged item.

5. The system of claim 3, the RFID reader is located at a delivery area through which the tagged item passes.

6. The system of claim 1, the inferred inventory requirement is based upon a real-time rate of utilization of the part in a product assembly area t.

7. The system of claim 1, the tracking component comprises at least one of an inventory component, a defective part analyzer, or a work-in-progress module.

8. The system of claim 7, the defective part analyzer analyzes at least one of RFID tagged item information stored during the industrial assembly process or RFID tagged item information obtained during product returns to determined whether at least one of an item modification, an item redesign, or an item engineering analysis is warranted for the RFID tagged item.

9. The system of claim 1, the tracking component communicates a replenishment request to inform the replenishment component to at least one of order more items from a supplier or deliver one or more items from another internal or external inventory area to facilitate continuous operation of the industrial process.

10. The system of claim 1, the replenishment component responds to a replenishment request by delivering additional RFID tagged items.

11. The system of claim 1, further comprising a data collection component that records electronic data related to replenishment requests and data related to the operation of the industrial process.

12. The system of claim 11, the data related to the operation of the industrial process includes a manifest for each of a plurality of assembled products, wherein the manifest includes a unique identifier for each RFID tagged item installation in the assembled product associated with the manifest.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the tracking component updates the manifest upon the RFID tagged item being replaced in the assembled product associated with the manifest, wherein the update includes unique data identifying a replacement for the RFID tagged item.

14. A programmable logic controller (PLC) that employs the system of claim 1.

15. A method of managing item inventory, comprising:

receiving RFID tagged items;

reading data from the RFID tagged items;

tracking real-time usage of the RFID tagged items during an assembly operation;

employing at least one of probabilistic or statistical analysis to infer an inventory requirement of the RFID tagged items based upon the tracked real-time usage;

determining an optimal inventory limit to generate an inventory replenishment request for the RFID tagged items based upon the inferred inventory requirement;

generating a replenishment request when a quantity of the RFID tagged items reaches the optimal inventory limit; and

delivering additional items based on the replenishment request.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein reading data from the RFID tagged items occurs via an RFID reader/writer.

17. The method of claim 15, further comprising generating a manifest for each of a plurality of assembled products, wherein the manifest includes a unique data identifying each RFID tagged item installation in the assembled product associated with the manifest.

18. The method of claim 15, updating the manifest upon a RFID tagged item being replaced in the assembled product associated with the manifest, wherein the update includes unique data identifying a replacement for the RFID tagged item.

19. A system that verifies correctness of RFID tagged parts in a multipart product, comprising:

a feeder component that removes an RFID tagged part from a plurality of RFID tagged parts;

an RFID reader component that senses electronic data of the RFID tagged part; and

a verification component that determines the correctness of the RFID tagged part during assembly of a multipart product based at least in part on the electronic data, wherein the RFID tagged part is determined to be correct when the RFID tagged part is at least one of a required part or a proper part among a set of options, the verification component allows the RFID tagged part to be employed during assembly of the multipart product when the RFID part is determined to be correct;

a removal component that removes the RFID tagged part when the RFID tagged part is not determined to be correct.

20. The system of claim 19, the electronic data contains information associated with at least one of a part identification, a part identification number, part type, date of part manufacture, part cost, part supplier information, part color, or part composition.

21. The system of claim 19, the verification component further determines completeness of the multipart product upon completion of assembly of the multipart product by sensing electronic data of all RFID tagged parts in the multipart assembly.

22. The system of claim 19, further comprising a tracking component that generates a manifest for the multipart product, wherein the manifest includes a unique identifier for each RFID tagged part assembled into the multipart product, wherein the unique identifier is included in the sensed electronic data.

23. A method of verifying correctness of RFID tagged parts in a multipart product, comprising:

receiving a plurality of the RFID tagged parts proximate an assembly area;

monitoring the plurality of RFID tagged parts with an RFID reader;

selecting an RFID tagged part from the plurality of RFID tagged parts for an assembly operation of a multipart product;

checking the selected RFID tagged part with the RFID reader for correctness as a part of the multipart product, wherein the RFID tagged part is determined to be correct when the RFID tagged part is at least one of a required part or a proper part among a set of options;

employing the RFID tagged part during the assembly operation of the multipart product when the RFID part is determined to be correct; and

removing the RFID tagged part from the assembly operation when the RFID tagged part is not correct.

24. A system that monitors final product completeness, comprising:

a completely assembled product that is composed of one or more RFID tagged parts;

an RFID reader that checks the completely assembled product for a correct set of parts by sensing electronic data from the one or more RFID tagged parts, the sensed data includes a unique identifier for each of the one or more RFID tagged parts;

a manifest generating component that generates a manifest of the one or more RFID tagged parts for the completely assembled product, wherein the manifest includes a unique identifier for each of the one or more RFID tagged parts assembled into the completely assembled product; and

an archiving component that stores the manifest.

25. A method of monitoring completeness of a final product, comprising:

assembling a completely assembled product using one or more RFID tagged parts;

checking the completely assembled product by reading stored electronic information from the one or more RFID tagged parts;

generating a manifest for the completely assembled product, wherein the manifest includes a unique identifier for each of the one or more RFID tagged parts assembled into the completely assembled product; and

storing the manifest.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein the manifest is stored temporarily in a PLC, and thereafter transmitted to a remote database.

27. A system that facilitates processing of a warranty and repair procedure, comprising:

a returned product composed of one or more RFID tagged parts;

an archive component that stores an as-built composition of the returned product, wherein the as-built composition includes information identifying RFID tagged parts that were originally assembled into the returned product;

an RFID component that determines an as-returned composition of the returned product by sensing data from the one or more RFID tagged parts of the returned product; and

a comparison component that compares the as-returned composition with the as-built composition to determine whether the as-returned composition matches the as-built composition.

28. The system of claim 27, the archive component further updates the as-built composition to indicate one or more replacement RFID tagged parts used in authorized modifications made to the returned product before the returned product was returned.

29. The system of claim 27, the returned product is processed according to a warranty and repair policy based upon the determination whether the as-returned composition matches the as-built composition.

30. A method of processing a warranty and repair procedure, comprising:

receiving a returned product composed of one or more RFID tagged parts;

using an RFID reader to determine an as-returned composition of the returned product by sensing data from the one or more RFID tagged parts of the returned product;

determining whether the as-returned composition matches an as-built composition, wherein the as-built composition includes at least one of;

information identifying RFID tagged parts that were part of an original assembly of the returned product when the returned product was manufactured, or

information identifying RFID tagged parts that were part of the original assembly of the returned product when the returned product was manufactured along with information identifying one or more replacement RFID tagged parts used in an authorized modification made to the returned product prior to the returned product being returned;

returning the product if repair is unauthorized under a warranty and repair procedure based upon the determination; and

repairing the product if repair is authorized under the warranty and repair procedure based upon the determination.

31. The method of claim 30, further comprising:

determining damaged or defective RFID tagged parts of the returned product;

providing a replacement RFID tagged part;

scanning the replacement RFID tagged part;

checking the replacement RFID tagged part for correctness;

replacing the damaged or defective RFID tagged parts of the returned product with the replacement RFID tagged part to produce a repaired product;

updating the as-built composition to reflect the replacement RFID tagged part;

shipping the repaired product the consumer; and

storing the updated as-built composition.

32. A system that facilitates processing of a warranty and repair policy, comprising:

means for receiving a returned product purchased under the warranty and repair policy and composed of RFID tags associated with one or more parts;

means for reading the RFID tags of the one or more parts to determine an as-returned composition of the product by scanning the product upon return to read the one or more RFID tags associated therewith;

means for determining whether the as-returned composition matches a manifest, wherein the manifest includes at least one of;

information identifying RFID tagged parts that were part of an original assembly of the returned product when the returned product was manufactured, or

information identifying RFID tagged parts that were part of the original assembly of the returned product when the returned product was manufactured along with information identifying one or more replacement RFID tagged parts used in an authorized modification made to the returned product prior to the returned product being returned; and

means for processing the product based upon the determination by one of returning the product if repair is unauthorized under the warranty and repair policy and replacing the one or more parts of the product if repair is authorized under the warranty and repair policy.