Radio frequency identification system for tracking and managing materials in a manufacturing process

• US 9,489,650 B2
• Filed: 11/24/2015
• Issued: 11/08/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 03/06/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: A-1 Packaging Solutions Incorporated
• Original Assignee: A-1 Packaging Solutions Incorporated
• Inventors: Schoening, Kenneth F., Greaves, William J.
• Primary Examiner(s): TRAIL, ALLYSON NEEL
• Application Number:
  US14/950,192
• Publication Number:
  US 20160078395A1
• Time in Patent Office: 350 Days
• Field of Search: 235/380, 235/385, 340/8.1
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/245 Query processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10366 the interrogation device being adapted for miscellaneous applications
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063114 Status monitoring or status determination for a person or group
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0875 Itemisation or classification of parts, supplies or services, e.g. bill of materials
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/2216 used in interrogator/reader equipment
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 3/24 varying the orientation by switching energy from one active radiating element to another, e.g. for beam switching

Abstract

A process management system uses a radio frequency identification (RFID) detection system in the form of, for example, a phased array antenna based RFID detection system to track and manage material storage and flow in a manufacturing process or plant. The process management system operates in conjunction with the various machines that implement manufacturing stages or steps of the manufacturing process to assure that the correct materials and processing procedures are used at or on the various production machines of the process to produce a particular product as defined by a job number or job order. The process management system is thereby able to increase the efficiencies of the plant and to increase the quality of the plant production by reducing or eliminating waste, manufacturing errors and shipping errors in the production facility.

Claims

1. A method of controlling a manufacturing process, comprising:

receiving, by one or more processors, a manufacturing job order having a job order recipe, the job order recipe identifying (i) a plurality of manufacturing stages, and (ii) one or more manufacturing inputs to each of the plurality of manufacturing stages used to produce a finished product in accordance with the manufacturing process as specified by the manufacturing job order,

determining, by one or more processors, the one or more manufacturing inputs to each of the plurality of manufacturing stages as specified by the job order recipe;

identifying, by one or more processors, one or more radio frequency identification (RFID) tags associated with each of the one or more manufacturing inputs;

determining, by one or more processors, a position of the one or more RFID tags with respect to each of the one or more manufacturing inputs; and

verifying, by one or more processors, that the one or more manufacturing inputs are located at each of the one or more manufacturing stages as indicated by the job order recipe based upon the position of the one or more RFID tags.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

reading, by one or more processors, data from the one or more RFID tags indicative of one or more respective unique RFID tag numbers, and

wherein the act of verifying that the one or more manufacturing inputs are located at each of the one or more manufacturing stages further comprises;

determining whether the one or more respective unique RFID tag numbers correlate to the one or more manufacturing inputs as specified by the job order recipe.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

wherein the act of verifying that the one or more manufacturing inputs are located at each of the one or more manufacturing stages further comprises;

determining whether the position of the one or more RFID tags associated with the one or more respective unique RFID tag numbers correlates to a manufacturing input location as specified by the job order recipe.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

when a manufacturing input from among the one or more manufacturing inputs is not located at an input to a manufacturing stage from among the one or more manufacturing stages as indicated by the job order recipe, generating a notification indicative of the manufacturing input being at an improper location.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

when a manufacturing input from among the one or more manufacturing inputs is not located at a manufacturing stage from among the one or more manufacturing stages as indicated by the job order recipe, affecting the manufacturing process such that the manufacturing input is not subjected to the manufacturing stage.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

scanning, by one or more processors, a region in which the manufacturing process occurs with an antenna, the antenna having an associated coverage area; and

resolving, by one or more processors, a location of the one or more RFID tags within the region that is less than the coverage area of the antenna based on a signal transmitted by the one or more RFID tags.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the act of determining the position of the one or more RFID tags comprises:

monitoring changes in the resolved location of the one or more RFID tags over time.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the manufacturing job order is from among a plurality of manufacturing job orders, each of the plurality of manufacturing job orders specifying a different plurality of manufacturing stages and one or more different manufacturing inputs to each of the different plurality of manufacturing stages.

9. A method of controlling a manufacturing process, comprising:

determining, by one or more processors, (i) a first and a second manufacturing stage, and (ii) one or more manufacturing inputs to each of the first and the second manufacturing stage used to produce a manufactured output in accordance with the manufacturing process as specified by a job order recipe,

wherein the one or more manufacturing inputs include (i) raw materials used as input to the first manufacturing stage to provide one or more intermediate outputs, and (ii) the one or more intermediate outputs used as input to the second manufacturing stage to provide the manufactured output,

identifying, by one or more processors, one or more first radio frequency identification (RFID) tags associated with the raw materials as specified by the job order recipe;

attaching one or more second RFID tags to each of the one or more intermediate outputs, each of the one or more second RFID tags including data indicative of a unique RFID tag number;

determining, by one or more processors, a position of the one or more first and second RFID tags with respect to the one or more manufacturing inputs based upon their respective unique RFID tag numbers; and

verifying, by one or more processors, that (i) the one or more manufacturing inputs are located at the input to the first manufacturing stage as specified by the job order recipe based upon the determined position of the one or more first RFID tags, and (ii) the one or more intermediate outputs are located at the input to the second manufacturing stage as specified by the job order recipe based upon the determined position of the one or more second RFID tags.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the one or more first RFID tags include data identifying the raw materials to which the one or more first RFID tags are attached.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

determining, by one or more processors, whether the second manufacturing stage is a last manufacturing stage in the manufacturing process based upon the job order recipe; and

when the second manufacturing stage is the last manufacturing stage, updating, by one or more processors, data stored in the one or more second RFID tags to indicate a destination within a manufacturing plant in which processing of the manufactured output can be completed in accordance with the job order recipe.

12. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

when a manufacturing input from among the one or more manufacturing inputs is not located at a manufacturing stage as indicated by the job order recipe, generating a notification indicative of the manufacturing input being at an improper location.

13. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

when a manufacturing input from among the one or more manufacturing inputs is not located at a manufacturing stage as indicated by the job order recipe, affecting the manufacturing process such that the manufacturing input is not subjected to the first or the second manufacturing stage.

14. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

scanning, by one or more processors, a region in which the manufacturing process occurs with an antenna, the antenna having an associated coverage area; and

resolving, by one or more processors, a location of the one or more first and second RFID tags within the region that is less than the coverage area of the antenna based on a signal transmitted by the one or more first and second RFID tags.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the act of determining the position of the one or more first and second RFID tags comprises:

monitoring changes in the resolved location of the one or more first and second RFID tags over time.

16. The method of claim 9, wherein the job order recipe is from among a plurality of job order recipes, each of the plurality of job order recipes specifying different manufacturing stages and one or more different manufacturing inputs used to produce different respective manufactured outputs.

17. A method of controlling a manufacturing process, comprising:

determining, by one or more processors, (i) one or more manufacturing stages, and (ii) one or more manufacturing inputs to each of the one or more manufacturing stages used to produce a manufactured output in accordance with the manufacturing process as specified by a job order recipe,

wherein the one or more manufacturing inputs include (i) raw materials used as input to a first manufacturing stage from among the one or more manufacturing stages to provide one or more intermediate outputs, and (ii) the one or more intermediate outputs used as input to a second manufacturing stage from among the one or more manufacturing stages to provide a manufactured output;

determining, by one or more processors, a position of one or more radio frequency identification (RFID) tags attached to the one or more manufacturing inputs;

verifying, by one or more processors, that the one or more manufacturing inputs are located at the input to the first manufacturing stage as specified by the job order recipe based upon the position of the one or more RFID tags as indicated by the job order recipe; and

verifying, by one or more processors, that the one or more intermediate outputs are located at the input to the second manufacturing stage as specified by the job order recipe based upon the position of the one or more RFID tags as indicated by the job order recipe.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

determining, by one or more processors, whether the second manufacturing stage is a last manufacturing stage in the manufacturing process based upon the job order recipe; and

when the second manufacturing stage is the last manufacturing stage, updating, by one or more processors, data stored in the one or more RFID tags to indicate a destination within a manufacturing plant in which processing of the manufactured output can be completed in accordance with the job order recipe.

19. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

when a manufacturing input from among the one or more manufacturing inputs is not located at a manufacturing stage as indicated by the job order recipe, generating a notification indicative of the manufacturing input being at an improper location.

20. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

when a manufacturing input from among the one or more manufacturing inputs is not located at a manufacturing stage as indicated by the job order recipe, affecting the manufacturing process such that the manufacturing input is not subjected to the first or the second manufacturing stage.

21. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

scanning, by one or more processors, a region in which the manufacturing process occurs with an antenna, the antenna having an associated coverage area; and

resolving, by one or more processors, a location of the one or more RFID tags within the region that is less than the coverage area of the antenna based on a signal transmitted by the each of the one or more RFID tags.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the act of tracking the position of the one or more RFID tags comprises:

monitoring changes in the resolved location of the one or more RFID tags over time.

23. The method of claim 17, wherein the job order recipe is from among a plurality of job order recipes, each of the plurality of job order recipes specifying one or more different manufacturing stages and one or more different manufacturing inputs used to produce different respective manufactured outputs.