What is the purpose of Enpro, Inc.?
Enpro, Inc. is a global industrial technology company that uses material science to expand the scope of semiconductor, bio-sciences, and other technology-enabled industries. Enpro, Inc. employing RFID technology has a variety of applications ranging from health to manufacturing and agriculture, and it can reduce risk in hazardous environments.
Industry of Food & Beverage
The food and beverage (F&B) industry is a massive global industry, with Research & Market forecasting a value of $7,525.7 billion by 2023. With rising consumer demand for several bottled goods, the F&B industry’s steady growth, particularly in the bottle and food packaging line, was one of the only ones to maintain growth trends during the pandemic. Many of the hurdles in food and beverage production are not new, but they are being addressed in novel ways using RFID.
RFID and Increased productivity
The industry’s adoption of automated systems over the years has allowed it to scale, and high manufacturing speed allows employees to work quicker, better, and safer. When productivity is measured in minutes, rate, precision, and reliability are critical. When problem detection remains a manual task and any unnoticed troubles lead to malfunctions, massive time and product losses can occur. Businesses are now shifting to Radio Frequency Identification, also known as RFID, to solve their problems.
RFID and Better efficiency
RFID improves the efficiency of the flow of products and services. RFID technology, in fact, is one of the most important innovations for the food and beverage industry, providing condition monitoring, tracking, and traceability applications that add to the advantage of suppliers, business owners, and consumers alike.
A Real-Time Example of the Enpro, Inc. Filler Vent-Tube Reader
Through fresh and inventive techniques, equipment manufacturers are assisting in the transformation of operations. Filler vent tubes in automated bottling were recently discussed by Enpro, Inc. Automated bottling lines rely heavily on vent tubes. Filling cans and bottles with carbonation-related gas requires the use of vent tubes. These vent tubes detach at times and fall into the cans and bottles owing to excessive use, posing a safety and quality risk. Fill line personnel manually verify bottles and cans to ensure vent tubes are intact during the process. Errors on the fill line have a substantial operational impact when missing vent tubes aren’t recognized, including line downtime and lost finished product.
Customers of Enpro, Inc. wanted a solution that automated the process of monitoring vent tubes, so they created a Filler Vent Tube Reader system using a FEIG Electronics LRM2500 High Frequency (HF) reader, an HID Global SLIX2 HF ring tag, and custom-developed Enpro, Inc. electronics (FVTR). The SLIX2 tag is injected into vent tubes, and as containers or bottles pass through the scanner, the tag is scanned to validate the presence of the vent tube. The FVTR system can read up to 800 tags per second, enhancing productivity and quality control efficiency.
RFID’s Future in Food and Beverage
The FVTR solution is just one illustration of what RFID technology can do. RFID not only improves factory floor efficiency, but also helps with challenges such as product returns, supply chain waste, counterfeiting, and theft that go beyond monitoring and tracking. As demand grows, product quality and safety will become more crucial, and contactless, automated solutions will be critical for companies who want to be on the top in the market.
