Uses SEEBURGER RFID Middleware to Aid Production Logistics

 

ATLANTA (May 15, 2007) --- The Bosch Group and SEEBURGER Inc. have earned AKJ Automotive’s 2007 elog(at)istics award for innovative manufacturing and logistics processes in the automotive industry for a joint project that uses SEEBURGER’s RFID middleware to automate the coordination and line placement of small parts to be used in manufacturing automotive electrical equipment.  The system is currently in use on 60 production lines at the Bosch works in Eisenach, Germany.

 

With the system, each small load carrier is equipped with a Kanban card carrying a transponder.  The RFID tag contains information such as ID number, material numbers, production order and quantities that have been programmed with SEEBURGER’s RFID Gateway software and managed through SEEBURGER’s SCM Portal.  This data is used to direct the appropriate parts to the correct assembly line.

 

Once filled and tagged, the small load carriers are tracked based on previously generated production orders and assigned to the production lines determined by the production planning system.  In this way, production planning, manufacturing execution, and small parts inventories and consumption are seamlessly managed, with automation of all associated back-end processes.

 

This RFID-aided consumption management strategy also eliminates the need for buffer stocks, because all inventory levels are easily associated with current demand and assembly requirements without guesswork.  In addition, the strategy facilitates greater transparency of goods, material and information flows.

 

In recognizing the Bosch/SEEBURGER project, AKJ Automotive praised “the very special combination of a lean logistic concept with the implementation of innovative RFID technologies along the whole plant.”

 

“All larger companies in the automotive field are looking into RFID applications in internal logistics. We are proud to be the first to realize a functioning end-to-end concept at the small load carrier level,” said Carsten Frost, Logistics Group Manager at the Robert Bosch works in Eisenach.  “We opted for SEEBURGER because the SEEBURGER RFID middleware is an outstanding product and because SEEBURGER is a professional and flexible implementation partner.”

 

 

SEEBURGER is a leading provider of global business integration solutions designed to optimize transactions throughout the extended enterprise by automating trading relationships with all partners regardless of their size and technical resources.  Launched in 1986 to provide integration solutions to the automotive industry in Germany, the company today is ranked among the top business-to-business gateway providers by top industry analysts, and serves more than 7,000 customers in 50 countries and more than 15 industries through its flagship B2B Gateway and related products and services.  SEEBURGER has global offices in Europe, Asia Pacific and North America, including a U.S. office that opened in 1998.

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