Sky’s the limit for RFID technology, Chamber told – Knoxville News Sentinel

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Before long, companies might be able to use a drone to fly around inside a factory or warehouse and use radio frequency technology to checkinventory or equipment, Dale Conerly told a group at the Knoxville Chamber on Tuesday.

His company is still developing this, but for now, there are lots of more down-to-earth uses forradio frequency identification equipment, Conerly, sales engineer for Chattanooga-based Barcom Inc., told about 50 people gathered for a meeting of the Chamber's Manufacturer's Roundtable on Tuesday.

The group meets monthly to share ideas about problems and issues faced by all the companies involved. They host guest presenters and sometimes arrangetours of each other's facilities. Scott Snyder, materials manager with Morgan Olson, invitedConerly to tell the group about what Barcom offers.

The equipment is a more sophisticatedversion ofbar code systems used in stores. Barcom makes different kinds of electromagneticribbons that can be attached to equipment and materials to contain information that can be retrieved by a RFID reader. For manufacturers, the equipment could be used for tracking the location of equipment in a factory, keeping tabs on its maintenance schedule, or other uses. Conerly said one use of the technology in manufacturing is ina "closed-loop"system.

"A closed-loop system would be if I am manufacturing an automobile seat and it's going through a process from cell to cell to cell, and I have it on a skid or carrier, and I want to know the work in process," he said. "I can put an RFID tag on that skid and I can process and track that skid through the system usingRFID. No one has to scan it; no one has to put a bar code on it."

Jennifer Moore, in charge of business development for Mesa Technologies Inc., said she could see potential uses for the technology.

"We are a custom manufacturer," she said. "We build equipment for other manufacturers."

Mesa puts together systems that manufacturers can use to automate parts of their operations. RFID might be something that could be incorporated in some processes, she said. Moore said the roundtable meetings have been helpful.

"It's nice to have a forum where we can discuss issues together and get expert people to help," she said. "We are all collectively solving issues in common that we all have."

For more information on the Manufacturer's Roundtable, visit http://www.knoxvillechamber.com/manufacturer%E2%80%99s-roundtableor contact Sam Hart at 865-637-4550.

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Sky's the limit for RFID technology, Chamber told - Knoxville News Sentinel