How Can Products Be Monitored and Their Traceability Ensured?
52 ǀ POSITIV TECHNOLOGY
TECHNOLOGY | TECH+
Challenges in monitoring and optimising
the production
How well do you know the movement
of parts and products within your plant?
Do you know exactly when and where
each product is located? Can you
be certain that every shipment contains
precisely what it should? How much
time and manpower does it take to verify
the accuracy of daily movements? How
quickly can you find a lost KLT, tool,
or spare part? These questions – among
many others – are becoming increasingly
crucial for modern quality control as well
as for efficient automated production
and intralogistics.
Why are traditional barcodes often
no longer sufficient today? They require
the label to be visually readable. And that
is usually the key problem, as several
factors can affect readability: poor
printing quality, low contrast between
the code and the background, or external
influences such as abrasion during
transport, or excessive heat or humidity
causing material degradation. Every
scan creates a risk of an error (incorrect
scan, missed scan, unreadable through
packaging, foil, or box, etc.). On top
of that, manual scanning is rather
time-consuming (around 5–8 minutes per
100 scans), while automatic code reading
can suffer from lower reliability.
How do RFID and Turck Vilant solutions
address these challenges?
They enable automatic identification
of movements without the need for visual
readability, real-time tracking of products
across production and storage, and the
elimination of human errors from manual
scanning. These are clear benefits for
quality, speed, and efficiency in logistics
management – and ultimately for reducing
the costs. With RFID tags, entire bulk
shipments can be scanned by passing them
through an RFID gate, capturing many tags
almost simultaneously within 3–5 seconds,
without needing to see them. This
technology is not affected by unreadability
through packaging and can be fully
automated across all areas of intralogistics
and company operations – for example
unloading, warehousing and consumption
of materials, production tracking, product
assembly, subsequent storage, as well
as loading and shipping to customers.
Situations where RFID proves most useful
– and without additional administrative
burden – include eliminating errors
in order picking, preventing incorrect
component sets, missing parts in JIT,
production line stoppages due to absent
components, and ensuring timely
signalling of missing items or inventory
discrepancies, inaccurate records,
or losses.
By implementing RFID and GPS/RTLS
tracking systems, companies can ensure
the reliability, timeliness, and quality
of deliveries – strengthening their
reputation. Thanks to error-free shipment
loading, follow-up complications such
as handling complaints or returns (and
the related extra costs) are avoided. Fully
automated completeness checks can
prevent up to 99.99% of these costly
and unpleasant problems.
Complexity and modularity of Turck
Vilant systems
The Turck Vilant tracking and monitoring
system is built on a complete modular RFID
architecture, which can be implemented
on a small scale and then expanded
step by step as needed. For example,
you can start with a single pilot use case
(such as shipping, inventory, or tools)
and then gradually extend it to other areas
of intralogistics (receiving, production,
internal movements, full traceability, etc.).
In addition, Vilant provides seamless
integration with any customer ERP,
WMS, or MES system, while meeting
all European security standards (GDPR,
audits, logging).
Why choose Turck Vilant?
The entire Turck Vilant system combines
robust hardware with unique algorithms
and a software platform, supported
by a consulting and project-driven
approach.
Turck is a global specialist in the automaon of manufacturing,
processes, and logiscs. With its digitally connectable soluons,
it supports ecient automaon systems and drives digital
transformaon in line with Industry 4.0 and IIoT. The company
focuses on intelligent sensor technology and decentralised
automaon, ensuring reliable detecon, transmission,
and processing of producon data – from sensor to thecloud.
Its porolio includes robust IP67-rated I/O systems,
complemented by user-friendly soware and services.
How Can Products Be Monitored
and Their Traceability Ensured?
How can you track items and keep an overview of what is happening in producon and logiscs?
What does the Turck Vilant System technology oer, and which “use cases” can we adapt
to your processes? RFID, RTLS and the Turck Vilant system provide a path to automated product
traceability.