How to Track Work in Progress with RFID

The operational problem

Work-in-progress becomes difficult to locate when status depends on paperwork, memory or scans that operators can miss.

What a reliable solution requires

RFID can associate tagged items or carriers with controlled transition points, creating timely production events without requiring line of sight.

• Define the unit that will carry identity.
• Test tags on the actual material and carrier.
• Engineer read zones at meaningful production transitions.
• Connect reads to valid routing and status rules.

Questions to answer before implementation

A useful discovery process starts with the workflow and the required business outcome. Ask:

• Can items move backward or skip a stage?
• How should rework and scrap be represented?
• What read accuracy is required before an automatic status change is allowed?

Where integration fits

Middleware must distinguish a passing read from a valid process transition and reconcile the event with the production order or routing record.

A practical next step

Pilot the stage with the largest visibility gap and include normal flow, rework and exception scenarios.