The rail industry includes rail operation and train manufacturing. For rail operation, high usage rate and high customer satisfaction are critical, real-time and safe train running management will improve customer satisfaction and attendance rate. For train and components manufacturing, high efficiency and low cost are important, real-time work in process management and automation will optimize operation, improve quality and efficiency and reduce cost. Due to vibration, impact, sun explosion, rainy and extreme temperature, the rail industry demands rugged products to be used in asset management, train identification, MRO management, work in process management, and tool management.
Crepak offers a wide range of product portfolios for rail industry, including RFID tags, readers, antennas, and smart equipment, we are experienced to solve the problems you are facing, including:
Assets management
There is a huge volume of assets used in the railway industry, including office assets, operation & production assets, and supporting assets, all these assets are located in different places while part of them are movable in the facilities, knowing what, where, which and how of these assets are important for operation and finance, By using RFID, rail company can get visible and timely assets situation, using history with high efficiency, which can be used to optimize the operation and meet financial audit compliance.
Train identification
In some countries, different train companies are responsible for train transportation in different areas, no matter cargo shipment or human transportation. RFID train identification can provide accurate and timely train running information that can be the reference for transportation planning and passenger management, improve operational performance and efficiency, increase transportation capacity, usage rate, improve customer satisfaction and enhance its competency. The RFID tag is mounted on both sides of the locomotive and carriage while RFID readers and portals are installed on both sides of the rail in the railway station.
Work in process management
The train is always continuously running in various harsh environments, its reliability and stability not only influences the operation performance but also relates safety, track and traceability of train and components, as well as automation, are necessary to ensure good quality and reduce cost, thus, manufacturers deploy RFID in the production line to collect data including people, machine, parameters and time for effective work in process management; normally RFID tags are mounted on train and key components or their carriers while reader/antennas are deployed at both side of each station in the production line.
MRO management
In train manufacturing, most of the production equipment and supporting equipment operate continuously so timely maintenance and inspection are critical to reducing downtime. RFID can make the process digitalized with high efficiency and lower cost, the MRO history can be referred for future work and the system can alert to take action. Robust RFID tags are mounted or embedded in the equipment while robust tablet or handheld readers are assigned to staffs for inspection.
Tool management
In train manufacturing, various tools are used in production and equipment MRO management, tools are always missed in using, which is a big loss to manufacturers, furthermore, some of the tools are left in product or equipment while it is a risk for running. And for some of the tools, regular calibration is necessary to ensure their function. Benefit from RFID, the receiving and returning of tool can be managed effectively, tool missing can be discovered timely so that further actions can be done accordingly, also it can send an alert of calibration in advance. Due to the different size and form factor of tools, many types of RFID tags are needed, they can be mounted on the tool via epoxy, heat-shrinkable tube, or adhesive; normally fixed readers and smart equipment are used to automatically check-in and check out tools while handheld readers are used to finding the missed tools.
