Indoor tracking


RF Indoor-positioning solution

CUSTOMER

Our customer is a multinational car manufacturing company, with one assembly plant totalling over 330,000 m2.

CUSTOMER NEEDS

When one assembly plant totals an area of more than 61 football fields, it is essential to know where everything is at any one time. Our customer needed a way of knowing which cars were where inside the plant, including which stage of their assembly or supply chain. For this, they required a reliable technology that would work indoors, but also outdoor, when the cars were transferred from the assembly point to the next part of the supply chain.

SOLUTION

KCS implemented a bifunctional solution that used Bluetooth low-energy when inside the plant, and switched over to GPS when outside. Beacons were placed throughout the factory, so wherever the car was within the assembly line, its precise position would be communicated to the beacons which would then relay it to the data platforms. Once outside and out of the beacon’s range, the units would automatically switch over to GPS, meaning the car’s full journey throughout the supply chain was now mapped out.

BENEFITS

The customer benefited from increased oversight into their car production. As each tag had a unique code, separate data could be stored, logged and amended for each car. Knowing in real-time where each car was, and at what stage of production, enabled our customer to more efficiently stay on top of their assembly and distribution processes. This resulted in huge time savings, a reduction in human errors and an overall increase in productivity. These comprehensive management tools are vital for any company wanting to stay in control of their processes, and ultimately, their bottom line.