Electronic kanban and RFID integration: advantages and how it works
What it is an RFID system
RFID, or Radio Frequency Identification, is an automatic identification system that uses radio waves to identify and track objects.
While many people simply associate RFID with the anti-theft alarms that go off when someone tries to leave a store with unpaid goods, in fact its applications extend far beyond retail security.
For example, in warehouses and production sites, RFID is a powerful tool for tracking materials and triggering automated processes. In this article, we’ll explore how RFID technologies can be integrated into an electronic kanban system to automate the mass status updates of kanban cards, bringing material replenishment workflows to a higher level of efficiency.
RFID components for electronic kanban’s integration
When a company decides to enrich its electronic kanban system with RFID, the needed devices are the following:
- RFID Tags: very thin microchips that are located inside the kanban cards to which they are associated, one per card. These tags store and transmit data relating to the cards themselves.
- RFID Antennas: they are responsible for generating the magnetic field that activates RFID tags and allows them to be detected.
- RFID Readers: they process the information received from the antennas, transmitting real-time data to the electronic kanban software for processing.
By strategically combining RFID Readers and Antennas, RFID Portals are created. These serve as checkpoints that automatically register the movement of RFID-tagged containers.
All this hardware, carefully chosen with our experts following the company’s needs, can be easily bought and configurated from specific suppliers specialized in RFID devices.
RFID integration with electronic kanban: how it works
Once all the RFID hardware has been installed and correctly configured, it’s possible to set up an integration between the RFID system and the electronic kanban software, like KanbanBOX.
With this integration, the technicians set up an automation that allows the e-kanban software to automatically update the status of all the kanban cards with RFID tags passing through specific RFID portals.
Here are some examples of RFID portal associations and related changes of kanban cards’ status with RFID tags when passing through them.
- Corridors through which operators move materials from the warehouse to the production line – From “In replenishment” to “Available”
- Big containers or area where consumed containers are stored – From “Available” to “Consumed”
- Dock levelers of the shipping area – From “In elaboration” to “Shipped”
Advantages of RFID integration with e-kanban
The integration between electronic kanban system and RFID technologies offers numerous advantages that streamline material replenishment management and reduce manual effort.
First, it eliminates the need to manually scan the kanban cards, reducing the workload for operators and allowing them to focus on higher-value tasks.
Second, it overcomes the limits of other automated scanning technologies like optical readers which require that the barcode is completely visible. Unlike this kind of technology, RFID tags can be detected even when they are positioned in hard-to-reach places or in the wrong position on the container, as long as the radio frequency waves can reach the tag. This makes the process more efficient and less prone to errors caused by misplaced or difficult-to-reach barcodes.
Third, by automatically updating the status of multiple kanban cards as materials move through RFID portals, the system minimizes the risk of human errors, such as missed or incomplete scans, which could lead to stockouts or production delays. This seamless and reliable integration improves the overall accuracy, speed, and efficiency of material replenishment processes in a modern production or commercial environment.
Do you want to integrate your kanban electronic system with an RFID system to automate the mass status update of kanban cards? Contact us!