The first GHz Tag to be directly applied to a tool! | Innovation Takes Time

Tagging single tool components to track tool flow on the shop floor is quite a challenger. Data matrix codes are limited because you need a direct visual contact. And RFID?

CIMSOURCE and it’s partners (FHG IMS, Heinz Nixdorf Institut) developed the first GHz tag to be directly applied on the tool.

See how small it is? Awesome!

To avoid absorption of transmitting waves the team went beyond UHF and opted for a 5 GHz technology. This way the tool (metal!) reflects the radiation. Rather than being a „black hole“ the tool becomes an amplifier.

We can monitor the tools location and track the “digital shadow” (time in use, actual speeds & feeds) and record it as life cycle data in the cloud. Imagine a swarm of cutting tools collecting actual machining data for you!

Why then is it not used industry wide?

Well, albeit that the GHz tag is really tiny, the required antenna is not. The key to success: We have an idea! (and we’re working on it…)

But innovation takes time.

 

Remember how long it took to get wheels to a suitcase?!

Bernard Sadow, often credited as the inventor of the suitcase with wheels. In the 1970s, while struggling with carrying a heavy suitcase through an airport, he was inspired by a worker moving heavy machinery on a wheeled skid. This led him to develop the concept of a wheeled suitcase. This concept has enhanced our travel convenience to this day! At that time, rollers on the suitcase were initially ridiculed and considered unnecessary by some business men. Sadow first had to prove himself and prevail with the product against contrary opinions.

To put it another way: “Let’s imagination soar, then engineer it back to earth!” As fancy as any IT system may be, without data you will venture into thin air. And the best option is vendor managed product data. Stay tuned. And see the opportunities that provides for your business