Location Intelligence for Pallet Tracking

Bob GrimmIT Enterprise Architect

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NGK Ceramics

• Located in Mooresville, NC• Subsidiary of NGK INSULATORS, Ltd.• One of the World’s Leading Ceramic Technology Companies • Headquarters in Nagoya, Japan• Turned 100 this Year

• Manufacture Ceramic Substrates used in Catalytic Converter

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What We Make

• HONEYCERAM® is an essential component for automobile exhaust gas purification. The catalyst carried on the surface of HONEYCERAM® converts harmful elements in exhaust gas, such as HC, CO, and NOx, into harmless elements

• Diesel Particulate Filters (DPFs) help eliminate particulate matter (soot) in the exhaust gas emitted from diesel automobiles, trucks, and off road vehicles

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Production Numbers

•Track by Pallets•1 pallet = 1 Travel Ticket (Unique Serial Number)•Multiple Travel Tickets make up Customer Order•245 Unique Part Numbers Produced in 2018• 1 to 11,000 Pallets/Part Number• Almost 110,000 Pallets tracked

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Production Cycle

Produce

Pallet

Fire Pallet

Test

Pallet Inspect

Box

Shipping Pallet

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How We got Here• 2013 - ASRS (Automated Storage and

Retrieval Systems), together with AGVs (Automated Guided Vehicles)

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Continued Growth• Empty floor space became storage space

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Define Business Expectations

•Track the progress of product through the manufacturing process•Must track WIP Identified by Unique Serial Numbers•Monitor when Pallet moves from one stage to the next

•Track with X/Y coordinates Against a Digital Map of the Facility •Associate Location to Zones on the Plant Floor

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Sent RFP to 9 Potential Vendors

•Able to Meet Intent and Goal of RFP•5 year Total Cost of Ownership•Company Stability and Ability to Deliver•Tag Investment and Reusability•Proof of Concept Cost

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Selecting the Victor

• Full system monitoring of all devices, including tags• Came down to faith in the “dot on the map” accuracy, real-

time tracking, • Quuppa via ThinkIn

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Why ThinkIn• ThinkIN technology is based on Quuppa RTLS for the high

precision localization of assets in the shop floor.• Quuppa utilizes a unique combination of Bluetooth Low Energy

(BLE) and the Angle of Arrival (AoA) methodology • The lowpower system proved to be a reliable, highly-

customizable, scalable and cost-efficient solution for providing an accurate “dot on the map.”

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Proof of Concept•Selected Small Pilot Area • Installed Access Points•Create a Digital Map of the Area•Pairing/Un-pairing Tag to Travel Ticket• Locate a Pallet

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Selected Small Pilot Area•9,000 Square feet•Easy Access to Network Closet•Open Area for AP installation•Planned to Install 10 APs• Installed Apple MAC mini•Cloud Based Data Analysis

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Installed Access Points•Easy access for lift to operate• Installed, moved and reinstalled APs•Negative• Located next to our kilns • 40 feet to the roof •Mid-August in North Carolina

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Create a Digital Map of the Area•Started with a Raster Image• Zoom in functionality was limited• Dots did not change size

•Transitioned to Vector for Scalability• Virtually unlimited zoom-ability• Optimized User Interface

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Pilot to Production

•Mature Pairing and Un-pairing•Small Scale vs Large Scale•Physically Attaching the Tags•Storing and Reusing tags

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Refining Pairing/Un-pairing•Trigger Scanning•Needed a Custom App •Reduced to a 5 Step Process•Obsessively “fun” for Plant Floor

Employee

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Pair Travel Ticket with a tag.

Success!

Un-pairing is even easier <Add Tag Vendors>

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Auto Un-pair (Geo Fence)•Develop Auto Un-pairing Based on Business Rules

and Location •When Ticket is closed in Inspection AND Tag

Location is in Inspection, Un-pair the Tag

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Physically Attaching the Tags•Plastic Bag - Insert Travel Ticket and RTLS Tag•Paper-size Envelope - print Travel Ticket data on and

insert RTLS Tag• “Packing List Envelopes” – Stuck to the back of Travel

Tickets

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Storing and Reusing Tags•Define Process to Reuse•Minimize Loss - Getting Lost or Thrown Away• Identify Location to Accumulate and Store • Production• Inspection

•Transport Tags Back to Production

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Current Status

•Currently Active on all Production Lines•Adding Location Kiosks throughout the plant.• Tested a lot of different tags

• Tags directly from Quuppa• BlueUp• Kontakt.io

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How we Look

• Pilot Area• Production Area

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Next Steps Under Consideration

• Tracking Finished Goods Pallets• North American Warehouse • Safety – Employee badges become RTLS

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Thank You

• bob.grimm@ngkceramics.com