15.05.08

RATHGEBER's subsidiary smart-TEC wins in the RFID category

The project run between smart-TEC GmbH & Co KG and Graubner Industrie-Beratung GmbH at AG at Daimler AG in Gaggenau on 'Testing working materials using RFID' has been announced as the 'RFID' category winner. Upon handing over the European Auto ID Award 2008, the jury at IBC Euroforum GmbH stressed how impressed they had been by the link made between technical innovation and implementation in practical applications.

Details of the project:
The requirements of documentation for systems requiring monitoring in terms of health and safety at work (regulated by the German Health and Safety at Work Regulations) are huge. At Daimler's Gaggenau site, this applies to a great extent to the lifting tackle used on-site. This has to be maintained on a regular basis to guarantee the safety of the people who work with it and to protect their health.

To allow the latest maintenance data to be accessed from the object itself at all times  RFID technology is used. The operating principle is simple and effective: the service engineer is provided with a PDA. This is loaded with the software and SQL database developed by engineers at Graubner Industrie-Beratung GmbH for Daimler. The PDA is used to depict the maintenance processes and document the activities carried out.

To guarantee clear assignment between data and object,  lifting tackle had to be equipped with RFID data carriers. Only very resistant data carriers are able to withstand the huge impact and shearing forces. The customer also wanted a universal way of fixing the RFID data carriers onto lifting tackle of very different shapes. The solution was provided by smart-TEC (Oberhaching), who designed an RFID data carrier able to withstand the huge loads and which could be cheaply attached to each piece of lifting tackle. This operates on the 125kHz frequency band and can clearly identify each piece of lifting tackle.

The whole system enables the service and maintenance staff to process maintenance work in a simplified, time-saving and also reliable way as essential information, like the date and type of maintenance activity last undertaken, can be called up on the lifting tackle itself. There is no more time-consuming recording of data, and assignment errors due to insufficient object identification are avoided. Documentation costs are down and the quality of data and staff safety have been greatly improved.