Radio frequency identification system for tracking and managing materials in a manufacturing process
First Claim
1. A method of controlling a manufacturing process associated with a manufacturing job order, comprising:
- identifying, by a command system, a job order recipe associated with the manufacturing job order,wherein the job order recipe identifies one or more material inputs to a manufacturing stage that implements a production machine to produce a manufactured product in accordance with the manufacturing job order,searching, by the command system, a database to identify one or more radio frequency identification (RFID) tags that are physically associated with each of the one or more material inputs;
determining, by the command system, a position of the one or more RFID tags; and
controlling, by a process controller in communication with the command system, operation of the production machine implemented by the manufacturing stage based upon whether the position of the one or more RFID tags matches a location of the manufacturing stage as indicated by the manufacturing job order.
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Accused Products
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.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method of controlling a manufacturing process associated with a manufacturing job order, comprising:
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identifying, by a command system, a job order recipe associated with the manufacturing job order, wherein the job order recipe identifies one or more material inputs to a manufacturing stage that implements a production machine to produce a manufactured product in accordance with the manufacturing job order, searching, by the command system, a database to identify one or more radio frequency identification (RFID) tags that are physically associated with each of the one or more material inputs; determining, by the command system, a position of the one or more RFID tags; and controlling, by a process controller in communication with the command system, operation of the production machine implemented by the manufacturing stage based upon whether the position of the one or more RFID tags matches a location of the manufacturing stage as indicated by the manufacturing job order. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A method of monitoring a manufacturing process associated with a manufacturing job order having a job order recipe, comprising:
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identifying, by a command system based upon the job order recipe, (i) a first and a second manufacturing stage, (ii) a first material input used at the first manufacturing stage to produce an intermediate output, and (iii) a second material input that is the intermediate output, which is used at the second manufacturing stage to produce a manufactured product; identifying, by the command system as indicated by the job order recipe, a first radio frequency identification (RFID) tag that is physically associated with the first material input and a second RFID tag that is physically associated with the second material input; determining, by the command system, a position of the first material input and a position of the second material input based upon a position of the first RFID tag and a position of the second RFID tag, respectively; and indicating, by the command system, (i) whether the first material input is correctly located at the first manufacturing stage as specified by the manufacturing job order based upon the determined position of the first RFID tag, and (ii) whether the second material input is correctly located at the second manufacturing stage as specified by the manufacturing job order based upon the determined position of the second RFID tag. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A command system for controlling a manufacturing process associated with a manufacturing job order, comprising:
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a database configured to store a job order recipe associated with the manufacturing job order, the job order recipe identifying one or more material inputs to a manufacturing stage that is used to produce a manufactured product as specified by the manufacturing job order; a processor configured to identify, from the job order recipe stored in the database, one or more radio frequency identification (RFID) tags that are physically associated with the one or more material inputs; and an RFID detection controller configured to periodically monitor a manufacturing location that is co-located with the manufacturing stage, to detect the one or more RFID tags at the manufacturing location, and to determine a position of the detected one or more RFID tags within the manufacturing location, and wherein the processor is further configured to check, when the manufacturing job order is executed, whether the position of the detected one or more RFID tags matches a location associated with an input to the manufacturing stage as indicated by the manufacturing job order. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification