RFID Case Studies

Foreign Object Damage (FOD) caused by misplaced tools in the aerospace maintenance, repair and overhaul industry is a challenge faced by engineers constantly. The entire service operations maybe stopped for hours and all members have to search for the location of the tools before resumption of servicing.

Daifuku Singapore recognizes the difficulty faced by aerospace personnel and assist companies and government agencies in Singapore in the effective tracking of tools. Harnessing both active RFID and the latest passive RFID technology with operational logic, we are able to track all the tools in a General Tool Trolley effectively.

RFID Smart Tool Box video

Every asset is essential to our client due to its high cost of production and confidentiality. With Daifuku’s passive RFID Asset Management solution, each asset is tagged with a passive UHF metal tag and a handheld reader is used for stock taking. Stock taking is done every month and usually takes up to 2 working days. However, after the implementation of Daifuku’s solution, the time taken for stock take is significantly reduced to 20 minutes. Anti-theft feature was also implemented by placing RFID gantry in every section exit. This also keeps track of all assets taken out and the last known location.

Effective tracking of assets for many organizations is a challenge during the annual audits. This difficulty is amplified if assets are located in far-away locations. Our active RFID system has been deployed overseas to provide real-time tracking the location of assets effectively. In the event of theft or unauthorized removal of assets, our system will provide immediate SMS notification to the security personnel.

Access to cleanroom environment is stringent and all visitors and workers have to be dressed in cleanroom attire. Daifuku Singapore installed a RFID Door Access Control in a large semiconductor company where only appropriate dressed personnel are allowed access to the cleanroom restricted area.

This system is thereafter integrated with the laundry management system where the frequency of washing and engineers’ attire are tracked.

With continuing affluence in Singapore and the growing role of double working parents, there is an increasing trend of children being sent to daycare centers. The caretaking duty of the child lies with the guardians (parents, maids, grandparents or nanny) and preschool education centers where the child will be spending much of the day.

Due to the interchangeable roles of the guardians and the open concept nature of kindergartens, child security is not guaranteed and the center-guardian relationship is based on that of trust or scheduled timetable; after class, the children will be free to accompany their guardians back home. As such, recently with rumors of kidnapping threats circulating around the internet, it has caused anxiety amongst guardians.

Daifuku Singapore introduces the Kinder-Guardian©; harnessing their experience in the education industry and RFID/Biometric technology, it ensures integrity and security on the children being sent to school. Equipped with a real- time tampered-proof attendance record of the students, parents will be able to track the whereabouts of their child via the internet and have a peace of mind. The Kinder-Guardian© will also be able to identify potential HFMD outbreak cases for administrators to take prompt action.

Note: This is a patent pending design by Daifuku Singapore.

RFID has been widely deployed in the healthcare industries. They range from active RFID to assist patients or passive RFID for pharmaceutical tracking. This is showcased in RFID World Asia 2011.

Daifuku Singapore worked with a large hospitality customer to create a state of the art hotel. Integrating with the Guest Management System, the active RFID system is able to provide hotel services to guest wherever they are in a hotel.

As a guest approaches the lift lobby, the lift will automatically be activated. As the guest enter the lift door, its destination floor will be triggered. The room ambience (lighting and air-condition) will be started up to welcome the guest.

Jewellery can be easily accounted for via special Jewellery RFID tags and the Jewellery management system. This system was showcased during the National RFID User Exhibition in 2010.

A large cosmetics retail distribution chain in Singapore has difficulty in accounting for its entire inventory at the end of each day. Daifuku designed for them an Automated Storage and Retrieval System (AS/RS) with RFID gantry to track its inventory effectively. The AS/RS ensures correct quantity are picked and stored as shown by the touch-screen displays. At the end of each day, the system enters into automated Inventory Checking mode where all the picked locations quantity is verified against the RFID gantry. By the next morning, an inventory check report is generated and supervisors will be able to verify against any discrepancies.

The active RFID system deployed by Daifuku Singapore has been installed at hundreds of sites overseas for sensor monitoring and alert notifications. The following monitoring systems have been deployed:

1. Energy Monitoring System
2. Battery Monitoring System
3. Fuel Monitoring System

Telecom towers are located at great distances apart and it is difficult for technicans to regularly monitor the temperature and battery status of the equipment in the towers. The telecom companies deployed the active sensor system with integration to a GPRS modem where data can be transmitted back to a central server remotely. The alert and monitoring system will thereafter notify users in the event certain threshold has been breached due to faulty equipment via SMS.

Tracking the location of tools trolleys is critical due to the huge work floor of our client. With Daifuku Singapore’s Active RFID Wireless Management System (Rf-Wms), tracking the location of tool trolleys is made possible. Extra costs and time used in manual searching is greatly reduced. A total of 300 tool trolleys and 42 tool boxes can now be located with just a few clicks of the mouse using Rf-Wms. Rf-Wms also uses a mesh network which allow radio frequency signals to be transferred from reader to reader. Thus, signals from one corner of a huge work floor can also be received by the server.

A large duty-free showroom in Singapore requires strong wine anti-theft capability and RFID tracking between its showroom and warehouse. Daifuku designed a tag which ergonomically combines RFID with anti-theft capability. The touch-screen Wine Information System is able to present information for visitors at a scan.