Ortrander Ironworks Rolls Out Real-Time Location System

By Rhea Wessel, RFID Journal

Ortrander Eisenhütte, an iron foundry located near Dresden, Germany, is rolling out an RFID-based system to track forklifts and containers at its facilities. The system, when fully implemented, will employ ultra-wideband (UWB) active RFID tags for tracking 20 to 30 forklifts, as well as passive ultrahigh-frequency (UHF) EPC Gen 2 RFID tags for tracking 10,000 metal containers and their contents.

Part of that initiative included a plan to employ radio frequency identification to track forklifts and containers. Ortrander contracted the Fraunhofer Applications Center for Logistics Systems Planning and Information Systems (Fraunhofer ALI), to help it research the market for RFID-based information management systems that would be well-suited for production processes in industrial environments. Specifically, the company sought RFID systems that would work despite the foundry's harsh industrial conditions and a metallic environment that might interfere with an RFID system's radio waves.

Used with permission from RFID Journal, Inc.