Market Updates

RFID in Industry 4.0

April, 2019

Industry 4.0 can be defined as vertical and horizontal integration of production systems which enhances reliability and efficiency in the production environment, driven by communication and information technology.

Impact of Industry 4.0 on RFID Market

RFID technology is becoming the integral part across automotive and industrial production lines, as it allows IT system to interact with the real-world assets without user Intervention. RFID technology is one of the key building blocks for developing automated production environment where machine has individual control over the materials to be manufactured as part of the production phase. for example, RFID tags can be tagged to materials needs to be processed or monitored on continuous based or at regular intervals, allowing the individual material/component to report its identity and other data such as such as temperature, location and so on.

Presently, RFID technology in manufacturing sector is in early stage of development, for successful deployment of this technology in industrial automation and control environments, RFID receivers should be equipped with necessary features to communicate with existing hardware infrastructure such as programmable automation controllers (PACs), programmable logic controllers (PLCs and input/output (I/O) systems. Additionally, to integrate RFID technology in manufacturing environment, RFID solution providers operating across regions are continuously focusing on developing various use cases suitable for various manufacturing practices across industries and local market compliance requirements.

RFID solution providers involvement in integrating RFID technology in manufacturing environment is mainly due to the rising market reediness of automation solution and increasing popularity of utilizing ethernet as a connectivity solution in manufacturing facilities. With the help of ethernet networking interface any potable or fixed computing devices can have access to any equipment in production line and can send/receive real time production data seamlessly.

Furthermore, technology developments are continuously focusing on increasing real-time information of business operations, improved business performance, and to enhance security & privacy. The potential of RFID technology is indeed great, addressing various challenges that bring broad economic benefits in production environment.

Current practice allows RFID readers to transfer data captured from the tags to computing systems that controls the manufacturing process.  The next step is towards developing smart factory, creating direct interface between manufacturing equipment and RFID system, which is expected to create highly diverse applications of RFID technology in manufacturing sector. However, security concerns, challenges in integrating with the existing infrastructure, implementation cost are the factors identified as restraints likely to deter the progression on RFID solutions in manufacturing sector.

- Delsingh
Research Analyst
Infoholic Research