Managing shop floor systems Using RFID in the Middle East

The controllability of a factory is highly dependent on the capability of a given enterprise planning system to interact with the shop floor, and the capability of any authorized user to review the operation plans , as well as the status of any sales order on the shop floor. We have called the concept “ E-manufacturing” ,which is a concept to improve the controllability of a factory by connecting the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system to the shop floor control (SFC) system through the Internet . Business systems and plant systems must be coupled to reduce decision cycle times and increase plant productivity , as well as eliminating human intervention to improve accuracy and data availability speed. This paper is the output of a project funded by the Egyptian Ministry of Scientific Research and Technology, through the Electronic Research Institute . The overall objective of the ministerial program is bridging the gap between R&D and manufacturing to fulfil the immediate technological needs of the Egyptian industry and economy , and building a national technology know-how expertise . This is achieved, in this project , by addressing the development of an EManufacturing system using available RFID state-of-the-art technology . The specific objective is developing an end product for Egyptian industry that manages real-time interaction with back end ERP systems to correct delays on the shop floor, improving real-time operation , reducing cost, and allow real-time visibility , through the intelligent usage of the RFID.The end product is a fully working system tested in the factory of the manufacturing partner MOBICA ( http://mobica.net/Index.html ) This report addresses the logical and technical structure ,as well as the technology constraints that should be considered in such systems, and the implementation stages of the project