Application Spotlight RFID Improves Quality and Reduces Cost for Flexible Rolling Mills

In a steel rolling mill, it is critical to keep the process running, since any interruption can lead to quality problems and cost the plant thousands of dollars in unplanned downtime. With todays growing demand for flexibility in steel processing, new methods are needed to control costs and support continuous quality improvement. While mills can have long runs of the same product on a single mill, it is becoming more common to have shorter runs of a larger product mix. With these shorter runs, rolls are changed in and out more frequently, resulting in not only greater documentation requirements but also a greater variance between predicted roll life and actual roll life, making it unclear when to replace the rolls. This unpredictability also requires an excess of spare rolls, which consumes valuable capital resources and increases the risk of quality issues. Balluff Industrial RFID systems offer a reliable, easy-to-use, cradle-to-grave tracking technology that simplifies data collection, maximizes roll life, increases quality, and reduces spare inventory without crippling the process. Benefits of Tracking with RFID: n Improve product quality with roll traceability n Maximize roll life n Reduce scrap and spare inventory n Track rolls from cradle to grave n Reduce mill set-up time n Improve visibility for preventative maintenance

In this application, a Balluff RFID tag is mounted to each roll in order to track the identity of the roll. A handheld RFID programmer with Read/Write capabilities maintains the roll identification information, along with critical information about the roll like vendor ID, grind history, roll finish type, dates/times when run on production line, and on which mill the roll was run. This historical information can be used in a multitude of ways to improve process efficiency and product quality. The life of the roll can be tracked and predicted, thereby optimizing the efficiency of the roll and reducing the number of spare rolls necessary; product quality issues can be tracked back to the date, time, product type, mill equipment, and vendor who manufactured/re-worked the roll even when outside third party re-grind suppliers are used. Data can also be sent via. 802.11 wireless communications to remote locations from the mill floor. The same Balluff handheld programmer is also capable of reading barcodes from work order manifests and transferring data to the RFID tags. Both wireless and barcode capability can be purchased and added separately to the handheld programmer.

Order Code
BIS004A *BAE00E9

Part Number
BIS M-122-02/A BIS M-873-1-008-X-004

Description
Data tag - 10x4.5, 2 kB Handheld programmer with integrated read/write head for tags < 20 mm 1 2 1 2

*Please consult factory for wireless/barcode option.

www.balluff.com/Steel
Balluff, Inc. n 8125 Holton Drive Florence, KY 41042 n 1-800-543-8390 n www.balluff.com

PS_049 RFID Improves Quality and Reduces Cost for Flexible Rolling Mills 2010-09