RFID is helping companies create better visibility from production through distribution. In our latest article, we look at why automotive traceability matters, how RFID is changing parts identification, and how Microcom Corporation can help suppliers prepare for growing RFID requirements.

Traceability in the Auto Parts Industry: Why RFID Is Becoming More Important

The automotive parts industry has a traceability problem.

Thousands of individual parts move between manufacturers, suppliers, distribution centers, stores, service locations, and customers every day. When identification breaks down anywhere along that chain, the result can be missing inventory, receiving errors, misplaced parts, inaccurate counts, and time spent trying to determine what happened.

That is one reason RFID is gaining attention throughout the automotive parts supply chain.

From Barcode Identification to RFID Visibility

Barcodes have long played an important role in automotive parts identification. They provide a practical way to connect a physical component, carton, or shipment with information stored in inventory and business systems.

RFID adds another level of visibility.

Unlike a traditional barcode, RFID does not require the same direct line-of-sight scanning process. An encoded RFID inlay can carry a unique identifier that can be electronically read as a product moves through different stages of the supply chain.

For automotive parts suppliers and distributors, that can help improve:

• Receiving accuracy

• Inventory visibility

• Part identification

• Shipment verification

• Location tracking

• Reconciliation of missing or misplaced inventory

• Supplier and distribution center traceability

These capabilities become particularly valuable when thousands of similar components and packages are moving through a distribution network.

Retailers Are Raising the Bar for Suppliers

RFID adoption is also being driven by requirements further down the automotive supply chain.

Large automotive parts retailers are looking for better ways to identify products as they enter and move through their distribution networks. Supplier RFID initiatives can create a consistent digital identity for individual products or packages before they ever arrive at a distribution center.

This changes the conversation for suppliers.

RFID is no longer only an internal technology decision. Suppliers may increasingly need to produce, encode, verify, and apply RFID labels that meet the requirements of the companies receiving their products.

And simply placing an RFID label on a product is not enough.

The correct information must be encoded to the RFID inlay. The printed information must be accurate. The tag needs to be readable. The RFID data and physical product need to correspond correctly.

A failure at any of those points can create the same receiving and inventory problems RFID is intended to reduce.

Where Microcom Corporation Fits

Microcom Corporation provides printing and RFID technology that can help manufacturers and suppliers incorporate RFID identification into their existing processes.

Depending on the application, Microcom solutions can support UHF RFID printing and encoding, as well as HF/NFC applications.

For automotive parts suppliers, an RFID-enabled printing process can allow information to be printed on a label while the RFID inlay is programmed with the electronic identification required for downstream tracking.

Verification adds another important layer.

Microcom’s RFID capabilities can help identify tags that have not been encoded correctly before those products continue through production or shipping. Catching a bad RFID tag at the point of printing can be far less disruptive than finding the problem when a shipment reaches a customer’s receiving facility.

Preparing for Customer RFID Requirements

If one of your customers introduces an RFID requirement, the first step should not be purchasing a printer.

Start by understanding the specification.

What RFID technology is required? What data needs to be encoded? What label or tag construction is approved? Where must the label be placed? Does each individual part require identification, or is RFID being applied at another packaging level? How will tags be verified? What information must also be printed on the label?

Those details determine the right printing, encoding, verification, and media solution.

Microcom Corporation can work with automotive manufacturers, parts suppliers, label converters, and other organizations to evaluate those requirements and develop an RFID printing solution around the application.

Better Traceability Starts Before the Shipment Leaves

The value of RFID is not simply that a tag can be read without scanning a traditional barcode.

The larger value is the digital trail it can create.

When automotive parts are correctly identified at the source, manufacturers, suppliers, distributors, and retailers have a better opportunity to know what was produced, what was shipped, what was received, and where inventory went.

As RFID requirements expand throughout automotive parts distribution, suppliers need to be ready before the first tagged shipment is due.

If your company is preparing for a new customer RFID requirement or looking to improve automotive parts traceability, talk with Microcom Corporation about RFID printing, encoding, verification, and integration options for your application.