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Land Rover and the Lockheed Martin subsidiary Savi have launched a pilot programme using Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) to synchronise the delivery of parts from multiple suppliers to Land Rover's Solihull assembly plant, supported by a Government grant administered by the University of Warwick.  

Savi is supplying RFID hardware and software to enhance visibility, inventory management, and asset utilisation, and to reduce losses, assembly plant disruptions, and time spent locating assembly parts. Phase 2 of this pilot enables 18 suppliers and Land Rover to better locate, track, and deliver stillages (specialised steel conveyances) that carry bumpers, front grills, suspension parts, ‘moon roofs’, and vehicle bodies, among other parts. Real-time information on RFID-tagged assets is shared among the partners and is automatically transmitted to cell phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), and web-based tracking software.

Savi active RFID tags are applied to stillages as they leave supplier facilities, and the tags are associated with the car parts carried by the conveyance. Fixed readers are placed at loading and unloading docks, entrances and exits of the suppliers and Land Rover's assembly plant. Whenever a tagged stillage passes by a reader, the shipment is logged and location information is transmitted to designated users. Exception alerts are sent when stillages do not arrive when and where they are expected.

(www.savi.com)