Land Rover has expanded its standards-based WhereNet active RFID real-time locating system (RTLS) to automate processing of more than 150,000 new vehicles annually, the U.K. carmaker reported Wednesday.
The WhereNet's Vehicle Tracking and Management System (VTMS) deployed at Land Rover's location in Solihull, England, speeds processes and labor productivity, order-to-cash cycles, and vehicle quality. The 308-acre assembly plant in Solihull, England, produces the Defender, Discovery 3/LR3, Range Rover, and Range Rover Sport vehicles.
In 2002, Land Rover installed the WhereNet part replenishment messaging (PRM) system, now owned by Zebra Technologies, to request parts on the assembly line in support of consumption-based demand. Expanding the project to include the Real-Time Locating System Powers Multiple Applications began in late 2006 and took about 90 days to complete.
Gary Latham, product line, manager in Zebra Technology's Enterprise Solutions Group, declined to elaborate on Land Rover's financial investment in the project, but did say a typical Vehicle Tracking Management System ranges between $400,000 and more than $1 million, depending on the facility's size. "We can share that Land Rover realized a complete return on investment in less than one year," he says.
Land Rover added the VTMS solution in January 2007 to manage vehicles as they roll off the assembly line. The system provides visibility of all finished vehicles regardless of where they are parked. Land Rover also uses the WhereNet VTMS to manage post-assembly verification and test processes, as well as quality repair, containment, and shipping areas.
"VTMS leverages mobile handheld devices to communicate tasks to associates in vehicle storage and shipping yards, as well as associates who are mobile within the facility," Latham says. "The system also interfaces to Land Rover's quality system for handling of in-process vehicles."
The Land Rover project consists of about 4,000 active RFID WhereTag transmitters that are temporarily attached to new vehicles as they roll off the assembly line, 50 WherePort magnetic gadgets at key points determine the location of each vehicle as employees move them around the complex, and 130 wireless WhereLAN location sensors.
