IMPLEMENTATION OF RFID SYSTEM FOR IMPROVING THE INVENTORY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM IN UNIJOH SDN. BHD.

Khalid Hasnan1, Salleh Ahmad Bareduan2, Azli Nawawi3, Noor Azizah Sidek4
1,3

Faculty of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, 86400 UTHM, Johor

2

Centre for Academic Development and Training, 86400 UTHM, Johor

4

Centre for Diploma Studies, 86400 UTHM, Johor

khalid@uthm.edu.my, saleh@uthm.edu.my, azle@uthm.edu.my, noorazizah@uthm.edu.my

ABSTRACT - This project focused on the installation planning of RFID system for Unijoh Sdn. Bhd. This RFID system is intended for improving the efficiency of Unijoh Inventory System. Based on the study done at Unijoh, it can be concluded that the inventory system of this company suffers several problems such as slow data key-in (manual), inaccurate record and several occurrence of theft. To justify the feasibility of the RFID system, a data collection session has been completed and a model and simulation are constructed. In addition, to justify the amount and specifications of RFID equipments needed, a site survey and network planning have been implemented. The RFID system will improve the efficiency of the inventory system by improving the speed of data update and tracking the location of asset in real time manners. From here, Unijoh will be able to save time and money and the best point is, this project will be able to offer a low cost RFID system for SMEs. Keywords: RFID Installation, Inventory Management, Data Entry, SIMATIC RF600

PELAKSANAAN SISTEM RFID BAGI MENINGKAT MUTU PENGURUSAN INVENTORI DI UNIJOH SDN. BHD.
ABSTRAK Projek ini memberi tumpuan kepada aktiviti pemasangan sistem RFID di Unijoh Sdn. Bhd. Sistem RFID ini bertujuan untuk meningkatkan keberkesanan dan kecekapan sistem inventori di syarikat tersebut. Berdasarkan ujikaji yang telah dilakukan di Unijoh, para penyelidik dapat menyimpulkan bahawa sistem inventori syarikat ini menghadapi beberapa masalah seperti proses pengemaskinian data yang perlahan, rekod data tidak tepat dan kejadian kecurian. Bagi mengkaji kebolehlaksanaan sistem RFID di Unijoh, sesi mengutip data dan pembangunan model dan simulasi telah dijalankan.Selain itu, sesi kajian tapak dan perancangan rangkaian sistem telah dilaksanakan bagi menentukan jumlah peralatan RFID yang diperlukan. Sistem RFID ini dapat meningkatkan kecekapan sistem inventori Unijoh dengan mempercepatkan proses kemaskini data dan merekodkan aktiviti pergerakan aset dengan tepat. Oleh itu, Unijoh akan dapat menjimatkan masa dan kos. Selain itu, projek ini juga dapat menawarkan sistem RFID kos rendah bagi memenuhi keperluan Industri Kecil dan Sederhana (IKS). Katakunci: Pemasangan RFID, Pengurusan Inventori, Pengemaskinian Data, SIMATIC RF600

INTRODUCTION Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology is considered as the next bar codes. This technology is expected to be accepted and used globally. RFID technology also offers a lot of advantages and as a result, a lot of manufacturers, industrialists, distributors and retailers begin to implement RFID technology in their system. In this decade, RFID technology is not considered something new as it is accepted almost everywhere. RFID can simplifies the

monitoring of assets, offers a fast scanning mechanism and the ability to read assets in bulks. In addition, RFID can be integrated with any enterprise existing IT system and this technology can also provide up-to-date information on status of assets (A. Nawawi, Hasnan, & Ahmad Bareduan, 2011; A. b. Nawawi, Hasnan, & Bareduan, 2011). RFID is heavily used in developed countries and this technology is coming fast to our shores. This technology is already deployed in a big scale by our neighbour, Singapore and the good thing is, the number of RFID suppliers in Malaysia is increasing. It is also worth to note that the cost of RFID tag is already at a reasonable level for deploying this technology in Malaysia. At our best knowledge, the price of a piece of smart label embedded with RFID chip by Siemens is RM 0.10 per piece (Loo, 2013; Siemens, 2012). This is a good sign for the growth of RFID technology in Malaysia. For that reason, this project tends to utilize the advantages of RFID in Small and Medium Enterprise (SME). Our research group believes that if RFID can bloom in SMEs, it can bloom everywhere in Malaysia. This is achievable because SMEs are usually the suppliers for big companies. Currently, global or big companies started to apply RFID in their system (Angeles, 2005; Baudin & Rao, 2005; Ferrer, Heath, & Dew, 2011; Glover & Bhatt, 2006; Swedberg, 2013). KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER PROGRAMME (KTP): RFID INSTALLATION IN UNIJOH This project is proposed by a research group from UTHM under the Faculty of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering. This group focuses on the implementation of RFID technology in industry and the analysis regarding the big deployment of RFID system. It is worth to note that as an RFID system becomes bigger (more RFID readers deployed), the complexity of the system increases. There are various challenges in a big RFID system such as achieving optimal RFID tag coverage, avoiding collision between readers, developing a cost efficient RFID system and maintaining a good load balance for all readers (Ben, Wong, Yujuan, & Li, 2009; Bhattacharya & Roy, 2010; Chen & Zhu, 2008; Chen, Zhu, & Hu, 2010; Chen, Zhu, Hu, & Ku, 2011; Chen, Zhu, Hu, & Niu, 2007; Leong, Ng, & Cole, 2005; Qiang, Yu, Yiping, & Wenshneg, 2006). This KTP project intends to encourage the transfer of knowledge between universities and industries. In addition, it is the students that become one of the main focus group of this project. It is hoped that the students will be able to improve their knowledge and skills in order to excel in their career and life development. This project is in operation starting from August 2011. Along the duration of almost two years, there are several Graduate Interns that contribute a huge amount of works to this project. The details of graduate interns are as follows:
Table 1: Details of Graduate Interns No. 1 Name of Graduate Intern Muhammad Ridzuan bin Idris Course Master of Mechanical Engineering & Degree of Electrical Engineering Degree of Mechanical Engineering Degree of Mechanical Project Covered Middleware database Area and Duration of Service January 2012-Now

2 3

Muhammad Azanis bin Rahim Mohd Saiful Anuar bin A.

RFID Network Planning (RNP) System modeling and

Jun 2013 August

2012-Jun 2011-

4 5

Ghani Noor Fazidah Bte Mohd Shah The Late Mohd Farid bin Gatot Sukatno

Engineering Degree of Mechanical Engineering Degree of Mechanical Engineering

simulation Hardware and software integration Hardware and software integration and test rig development

December 2012 August 2011December 2012 August 2011December 2012

The cooperation between the universities and industries provides a lot of benefits for both parties. In this project, the industry that participate is an automotive alternator remanufacturing company located in Parit Sulong, Batu Pahat, Johor. The registered name of the company is Unijoh Sdn. Bhd. This company remanufactures various models of automotive alternator (refer Figure 1) such as Ford, Mitsubishi, Chrysler, Hitachi, Bosch, Delco and Mitsuba (Hwei, 2011). The person in charge for Unijoh is Mr.Teo Sze Hwei and he acts as the factory manager. Unijoh located at No. 9 dan 11, Jalan Sri Sulong 16, Taman Industri Sri Sulong, 83020 Batu Pahat, Johor.

Figure 1: Automotive Alternator (Hwei, 2011)

RADIO FREQUENCY IDENTIFICATION (RFID) SYSTEM RFID system consists of three main elements (refer Figure 2): a tag, a reader and a middleware. The tag, also called transponder, is made of a chip and an antenna. It contains a unique code that provides the unique identification of each object (Aysegul, Nabil, & Stephane, 2008). The reader, also known as interrogator has an antenna which emits radio signals and receive signal in return from the tag. The distance of the reading range depends on multiple factors; the frequency that is used, the orientation and polarization of the reader, the environment (Aysegul, et al., 2008). Lastly, the middleware can provide the primary link between RFID readers and databases (Fagui & Zhaowei, 2006).

Figure 2: RFID System Components (Elshayeb, Hasnan, & Yen, 2009)

RFID INSTALLATION PLANNING RFID system offers a lot of benefits if it is planned and installed in a correct way. Unfortunately, there is also risk of a bad quality RFID system. For that reason, this project tends to setup the RFID in Unijoh with the first time correct approach. Our group performs several analysis and site survey method in order to setup a good quality RFID system. The methodology of this project can be referred in Figure 3.

Figure 3: Project Flow Chart

RFID Middleware and Database Validation RFID technology is widely used globally. In Malaysia, this technology started to bloom. As a result, our group started to participate in the field of RFID application research since year 2008. This group already conducted several introductory researches regarding RFID technology and managed to develop the middleware and database for RFID system (Chua Yik, 2009; Elshayeb, et al., 2009; Hasnan, Elshayeb, & Yen, 2009).

Figure 4: Flow Chart for the Development and Validation of RFID Middleware and Database (A. Nawawi, Lee, & Hasnan, 2013; Shah, 2011)

For this project, the developed middleware and database is validated. The validation procedure can be referred in Figure 4. A proof-of-concept is constructed in the Robotic Lab of UTHM. This proof-of-concept RFID system is used to replicate the parts/items tracking process in the production line of Unijoh. This system is developed on a SISCOM Assembly Cell-200 (Solution) that is assumed as the real production line in a remanufacturing factory (refer Figure 5). The SISCOM consists of several workstations that can be the representatives of general remanufacturing operations such as cleaning process, testing process, sending to inventory and disposal process (A. Nawawi, Lee, & Hasnan, 2013).

Figure 5: SISCOM Assembly Cell-200 with the Representations for each Station (A. Nawawi, et al., 2013; Solution)

In the proof-of-concept, one RFID reader is deployed at each station. Each part/item is tagged with an RFID passive tag. Whenever a part pass through any station, its existence will be detected by the reader and this information will be sent to the database. This system is a good substitute for manual parts tracking on the production line as the manual tracking method takes a lot of time and effort. If the amount of parts to be processed increases, any lost part in the production line will be a disaster because workers have to search for parts all around the production lines. From here, it is obvious that with the availability of this system, any missing part can be found easily because its location is recorded in the database. This RFID system offers real-time asset or part tracking capabilities. System Modeling and Simulation Simulation and modeling is a great contribution to knowledge. This branch of knowledge offers the ability to forecast the performance of a particular system without building the real system (Kelton, Sadowski, & Sturrock, 2008). This feature is so desirable among decision makers in any industry because simulation and modeling can help them to minimize risks. The need for decision making is very crucial for this project and at the best of our knowledge; the cost for deploying an RFID system is very significant. For that reason, to deploy an RFID system without a proper forecast and planning is not preferred at all. The procedure for modeling and simulation is shown in Figure 6.

Figure 6: Flow Chart for System Modeling and Simulation (Ghani, 2011)

A study done by Ghani (2011) shows that with the deployment of RFID system in one production line in Unijoh, the performance of the system increased. This is due to fact that workers will not need to search for parts manually. In addition, the condition of particular parts can be identified with just a glance at a computer screen. Unfortunately, according to Hwei (2011), the use of RFID for tracking parts in the production line do not offer a very significant improvement. In addition, the statement by Hwei (2011) is supported by the fact that the cost of RFID equipments in Malaysia is not at the level of SME-affordability. Besides, deploying an RFID system in the production line requires a huge number of RFID readers and antennas. Currently, an RFID reader cost almost RM 10,000 per piece and the cost of RFID antenna is slightly more than RM1,000 (Loo, 2013; Siemens, 2012). From here, it is obvious that deploying an RFID system in a production line of a remanufacturing company is not a cost effective solution. RFID Network Planning and Equipment Purchase Justification Upon realizing that our group needs to find a new problem to be solved by the RFID system, a probing session is implemented. Probing session means the group conducted several interview and data collection sessions. From the probing session, our group managed to find a new problem in Unijoh that can be solved using RFID technology. This new problem is related to the inventory management system. According to one of the employees, the inventory system suffers several issues such as inaccurate parts records, slow data entry system (manual method) and theft. In the event of annual auditing and monthly stock check, these issues are proven to be a very heavy burden. The procedure for RFID Network Planning and equipment purchase justification can be referred in Figure 7.

Figure 7: RFID Network Planning and Equipment Purchase Justification

The main keywords of this project are Low-Cost-RFID. For that reason, the main aim of our group is to design and install an RFID system with the lowest cost as possible. To achieve that, the main contribution of high cost need to be identified. For this project, the main cost contributors are RFID reader and handheld reader. These equipments cost about RM10, 000 and RM20, 000 respectively (refer Table 2). From here, it is realized that in order to cut down the cost, the amount of these two equipments must be set to minimum.
Table 2: Equipment Details and Price for Siemens SIMATIC RF600 RFID System (Loo, 2013; Siemens, 2012) Item 1 2 3 Equipment Type RFID Reader RFID Antenna RFID Smart Label (Tag) RFID Software Article ID 6GT2811-0AB00-1AA0 READER RF670R FCC 6GT2812-0GA08 ANTENNA RF640A 6GT2810-2AB03 SIMATIC RF630L SMARTLABEL INLAY 54x34 MM; PET 6GT2080-3GA00 SIMATIC RF-DIAG INCL: PC ADAPTER, USB CABLE AND CONNECTING CABLE TO COMM. MODULE 6GT2815-0BN20 CONN. CABLE FOR ANTENNA L20 6GT2890-0AA00 FLEXIBLE 3-WAY-MOUNTING-KIT 6GT2898-0AA10 WIDE RANGE POWER SUPPLY 6GT2813-0BC10 MOBILE READER RF680M FCC 6GT2898-0BA00 HANDHELD CHARGING/DOCKING STATION Quantity Needed 1 2 2 Price per Item (RM) 9,818.82 1,166.36 197.90

2,531.07

5 6 7 8

Antenna Cable Antenna Mounting Kit Power Supply RFID Handheld Reader Handheld Reader Charging Station Hand Held Reader WLAN Module

2 2 1 1

1,087.67 212.38 1,737.63 19,161.58

1,086.02

10

6GT2898-0DA00 WLAN-MODULE FOR HAND TERMINAL

2,221.63

For the RFID system design, our group decides to implement the system design mentioned in Swedberg (2013). The system design stated in Swedberg (2013) is considered

very minimal in concept. The design only employs at least one RFID reader to be mounted at the entrance of the inventory area. Any product or part with tag that move past the reader will be detected. The RFID system design for Unijoh is shown in Figure 8. As for the record update, a person only needs to carry an RFID handheld reader around the inventory area. The person must walk along the aisle and every RFID tag in his/her way will be detected by the handheld reader. The person must also make sure that every tag in the area is detected. This method is faster than manual method. Once the RFID tag is detected, the data will be sent to the database via WLAN communication. In order to make the cost lower, there are two RFID antennas used at the entrance of the inventory area (Figure 8). RFID antenna is almost 90% cheaper than RFID reader (refer Table 2). With this approach, this project only needs one RFID reader. This reader will be connected to the antennas. An RFID antenna can cover the same amount of interrogation zone as the RFID reader but it costs significantly lower. The list of RFID equipments needed is shown in Table 2.

Figure 8: RFID System Installation Planning in the Inventory Area of Unijoh

KTP CONTRIBUTION TO UNIVERSITY, INDUSTRY AND STUDENTS Contribution to the University This project offers a good industrial exposure to UTHM staff and students. It is indeed a beneficial experience in the field of RFID application. In addition, three bachelor degrees (final year project) theses are produced under this project. As for publication, one paper is presented in an international conference (A. Nawawi, et al., 2013) and another one paper is waiting for confirmation to be published in UTHM journal. In order to strengthen the relation between UTHM and Unijoh, three students were sent to Unijoh for Industrial Training session. This session provides the most benefit to our project

because these students do some observation and collect some initial data from Unijoh. These data can be considered as a great start. Other than that, the industrial session also strengthen the relation between UTHM and Unijoh. From here, more Bachelor projects start to take place in Unijoh. Contribution to the Industry This RFID project offers a better inventory management system for Unijoh. The inventory records will be more accurate and the data entry session will be much faster. This is because RFID permits multiple data entry simultaneously as RFID tags can be scanned in bulks. In addition, with the availability of two RFID antennas at the entrance point of the inventory area, any movement of parts or products across this point will be recorded. With this feature, the theft problem can be reduced and finally solved. In order to gain more information from Unijoh, probing sessions have been conducted. During these sessions, the employer and employees of Unijoh were interviewed. Despite helping our group to get more information, the probing sessions can also be considered as a review session for Unijoh. In other words, with this probing session, Unijoh will also get some idea on how to improve their current operations. Contribution to the Students The students are the most gainers from this project. This project provides a very good experience and exposure to the students. Other than developing RFID system for Unijoh, the students also have the opportunity to improve their communication and other social skills. They learn how to convince people, proposing suggestions, negotiating solutions and others. In addition, this project also helps to enhance their critical thinking and trouble shooting skills. The good thing is, all the skills are proved to be useful as two of the students are accepted as engineers in Unijoh. CONCLUSION RFID technology already reaches its mature point. This technology is already being utilized in global and big companies. For that reason, this project tends to develop a low cost RFID system for the SMEs. A good lesson learned from this project is that cost should be the main variable when developing a new system for SMEs. An RFID system with an affordable cost is very desired by SMEs in Malaysia. Our group manages to conclude that with the cost of less than RM100,000, a fully functional RFID system can be developed for SMEs. The key point is that the basic needs or the highest priority problems need to be identified at the very beginning of the project. This initial step is very crucial in order to develop a cost efficient RFID system with an acceptable Quality of Service (QoS) (Qiang, et al., 2006). An RFID system offers a lot of benefits and this system should be implemented in various industries in Malaysia. As more companies deploying RFID, the cost of RFID equipments in Malaysia will go down. Companies can run their operations in a more systematic and efficient way. They can have more time to focus on value added activities because RFID technology will handle all the hustles and chores.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT This project is supported by the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) of Malaysia under the Knowledge Transfer Programme (I-gt/20(UTHM 11)) project. This group would like to thank the University and Industry Relations Office of UTHM for managing the official matters of this project. This group would also like to thank Unijoh Sdn. Bhd. for the great joint-venture and cooperation. REFERENCES Angeles, R. (2005). RFID Technologies: Supply-Chain Applications and Implementation Issues. Information System Management, 15. Aysegul, S., Nabil, A., & Stephane, D.-P. (2008). A simulation approach to evaluate the impact of introducing RFID technologies in a three-level supply chain. Paper presented at the Proceedings of the 40th Conference on Winter Simulation. Baudin, M., & Rao, A. (2005). RFID applications in manufacturing. RFID Applications in ManufacturingDraft 7, 12. Ben, N., Wong, E. C., Yujuan, C., & Li, L. (2009, 26-28 Dec. 2009). RFID Network Planning Based on MCPSO Alogorithm. Paper presented at the Information Science and Engineering (ISISE), 2009 Second International Symposium on. Bhattacharya, I., & Roy, U. K. (2010). Optimal placement of readers in an RFID network using particle swarm optimization. International Journal of Computer Networks & Communications, 2(6), 225-234. Chen, H., & Zhu, Y. (2008). RFID networks planning using evolutionary algorithms and swarm intelligence. Chen, H., Zhu, Y., & Hu, K. (2010). Multi-colony bacteria foraging optimization with cell-to-cell communication for RFID network planning. [doi: 10.1016/j.asoc.2009.08.023]. Applied Soft Computing, 10(2), 539-547. Chen, H., Zhu, Y., Hu, K., & Ku, T. (2011). RFID network planning using a multi-swarm optimizer. [doi: 10.1016/j.jnca.2010.04.004]. Journal of Network and Computer Applications, 34(3), 888-901. Chen, H., Zhu, Y., Hu, K., & Niu, B. (2007). Application of a multi-species optimizer in ubiquitous computing for RFID networks scheduling. Paper presented at the Natural Computation, 2007. ICNC 2007. Third International Conference on. Chua Yik, Y. (2009). Improving Supply Chain Traceability Using RFID Technology. Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM), Batu Pahat. Elshayeb, S. A., Hasnan, K. B., & Yen, C. Y. (2009). Improving Supply Chain Traceability Using RFID Technology International Conference on Recent and Emerging Advanced Technologies in Engineering 2009. Fagui, L., & Zhaowei, M. (2006). The Application of RFID Technology in Production Control in the Discrete Manufacturing Industry. Paper presented at the Video and Signal Based Surveillance, 2006. AVSS '06. IEEE International Conference on.

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