RFID technology boosts competitiveness in food industry

Exorbitant sanitary requirements in the food industry make it a necessity to implement the best solutions for process optimization (including transportation). Innovative technologies, such as the RFID system, could significantly improve the efficiency of production and processing plants.

This is because it turns out that in logistics and during production control, most processes are carried out using the capabilities of Excel sheets. This means that a human being is responsible for noting down data and manually completing documents. Based on many experiences, it can be concluded that quite often during such work mistakes are made. And as you know - mistakes generate costs.

A good example of this can be seen with the simple process of washing and cleaning of production equipment and packaging. We say simple, because it would seem that this process is a basic routine operation. Yet controlling this activity in many plants is done by traditional monitoring methods - note-taking or the use of Excel.

So what is the problem? The possibility of erroneous data entry, the loss of manually filled out documents, or even if the operation is too slow.

The solution for the food industry may be RFID technology. What is it and what are its characteristics?

What is RFID technology?

In a nutshell, RFID can be compared to non-volatile memory, such as USB or HDD hard drives. It has a smaller capacity, but reads/writes data through an air gap between the medium itself (the carrier, the tag) and the read/write antenna (the head). Importantly, the RFID carrier can only work with a dedicated RFID antenna that transmits at the same frequency. If the frequency is different, the information stored on the carrier will not be received.

Automation of milk tanker cleaning using RFID

As a rule, milk tanker washing is done in two ways: quick wash and deep clean. The former occurs between runs, and the latter - after a full day. What problems can occur at this stage? It turns out that the start of washing often depends on the driver of the truck in question. He is the one responsible for starting a particular type of cleaning - quick or deep.

Sometimes they mistakenly choose the longer cleaning mode, which results in the downtime of the milk truck in question. And this in turn causes logistical problems throughout the plant.

A good idea to prevent such situations is to implement an RFID system that automates the process.

How does it work?

A solution based on RFID is mounted on milk trucks, and from now on each vehicle has its own unique data carrier, which is, in a way, its business card.

After passing through the gate, on which UHF antennas are set, the EPC ( Electronic Product Code which is a unique identifying number) of the data carrier is read. This data goes to the master system (MES), where each milk truck is identified. In addition to information about the vehicle data is recorded about when it entered and when its last cleaning was done, as well as when its next cleaning is due.

The system makes it easy to schedule periodic cleaning of vehicles and to create templates or next-step actions to improve optimisation of the entire process.

Benefits of using RFID technology for quality control

Increasing emphasis is being placed on maintaining the highest level of quality with the same efficiency, availability of individual products, as well as component performance. In order to improve overall equipment effectiveness (OEE).

By implementing an RFID system, the intention is to optimize production processes, increase transparency and improve the quality of products made.

The automation of processes in the food industry definitely improves the efficient operation of the company, eliminates mistakes and reduces associated costs.

Configure your ideal RFID system

Different environments require different solutions. At Balluff, you can combine and customise your RFID solution according to your specific needs to realise the potential of Industry 4.0 in your company.

Get a customised solution in just a few clicks if you are already familiar with RFID technologies, or use our RFID configuration tool to guide you through the setup with targeted, predefined questions.