Improving Machine Utilization with RFID Technology During the Acquisition of a Large Capital Equipment Purchase

This is the executive summary which includes large capital equipment justification, research and implementation of material flow, container design/management, process quality verification, and an asset tracking system for perishable tooling. This project requires working with cross-functional teams as well has heavy upfront planning to be successful. This is a moderately risky project with a high reward if successfully completed. The risk could severely damage the reputation of the company on a part quality basis. This project is to research machine tools to understand the potential to improve the process for indirect cutter grinding tools as well as increase machine utilization on direct production components. The cutter grinding process only required a max of 20 hours a week, many weeks much less. This reason drives the decision to research and potentially use new technology to increase the asset utilization as well as reducing part costs. The decision process was based on results from the Decision Analysis, which is an internal tool used to help with business decisions when multiple solutions were available. Research concluded that an RFID system could be implemented to interface with large capital equipment for asset tracking and mistake proofing. The RFID system was the key to the success of the project, without it there is no way to mistake proof operator error. The manual process leaves more room for human error and the risk for the business to see negative effects