Novelis, the World’s Largest Recycler of Aluminum, Deploys FEIG ELECTRONIC’s RFID Readers to Monitor Production Line in State-of-the-Art Digital Factory

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Novelis Deploys FEIG Reader for Production Line

RFID Global, FEIG ELECTRONIC’s distributor in Italy, designed and implemented the RFID solution for Novelis at its Milan facility to trace the movement of aluminum coils though the production line.  

Weilburg, Germany — MAY 7, 2019 — FEIG ELECTRONIC, a leading global supplier of radio frequency identification (RFID) readers and antennas with fifty years of industry experience, announced today the deployment of its RFID identification technology at Novelis, the world’s largest recycler of aluminum and leading supplier of aluminum sheet to the automotive industry.

RFID Global, FEIG ELECTRONIC’s distributor in Italy, designed and implemented the solution for Novelis at its Milan facility to trace the movement of aluminum coils though the production line.  Now Novelis can monitor the line in real-time, streamlining their warehouses management system and improving their order processing.

“Thanks to FEIG ELECTRONIC’s reliable and robust RFID technology and the solution expertise of RFID Global, we can now seamlessly trace our massive aluminum coils to the exact phase in the production line in real-time.  And with the data collected from the system, we can automatically identify each coil and guide it to its specific location in each warehouse, all without human intervention,” said Francesco Donato, computer integrated manufacturing manager at Novelis. “The new system has helped to trim our management process in terms of time, errors, and wasted material as well as protect the safety of our workers.”

Novelis is the leading producer of flat-rolled aluminum products that operates an integrated network of technically advanced rolling and recycling facilities across America, Europe and Asia, and are providers of innovative solutions to the beverage can, automotive, and high-end specialty markets.  Novelis’s Milan facility manufactures different types of aluminum, each of them following different production process, resulting in diversified production scenarios. The facility generates 125 aluminum coils per day, 4,593 square feet per minute.  Each coil has a diameter of 5.6 feet and an average weight of 8 tons.

The aluminum coils are tagged at the beginning of the production line and traced through eleven reading points equipped with UHF Long Range RFID Readers LRU1002, and connected to three 170×170 UHF RFID antennas.  The coils are followed until they get to their specific location in each warehouse.

“We are proud to partner with companies like RFID Global, who have the capabilities to designed, develop, and implement RFID technology, solving many of the industry’s technical and logistics challenges. Their market expertise and our fifty years of experience in manufacturing reliable, high performing RFID products is the perfect partnership for a successful implementation,” said Klaus Schoeke, vice president of technical sales for FEIG ELECTRONIC.

The RFID smart manufacturing solution, supported by RFID Global, began with tests during the summer 2017 and was fully functional by December 2017. Future RFID projects are planned for other Novelis plant near Milan, to trace paint drums for smart warehouse logistics.

About FEIG ELECTRONIC

FEIG ELECTRONIC GmbH, a leading global supplier of RFID readers and antennas, is one of the few suppliers worldwide offering RFID readers and antennas for all standard operating frequencies: LF (125 kHz), HF (13.56 MHz), UHF (860-960 MHz). A trusted pioneer in RFID with more than 50 years of industry experience, FEIG ELECTRONIC delivers unrivaled data collection, authentication, and identification solutions, as well as secure contactless payment systems. Readers from FEIG ELECTRONIC, which are available for plug-in, desktop and handheld applications, support next-generation contactless credit cards, debit cards, smart cards, NFC and access control credentials to enable fast, accurate, reliable and secure transactions. For more information, visit: www.feig.de/en

About Novelis
Novelis Inc. is the global leader in aluminum rolled products and the world’s largest recycler of aluminum. The company operates in ten countries, has approximately 11,000 employees and reported $11.4 billion in revenue for its 2018 fiscal year. Novelis supplies premium aluminum sheet and foil products to transportation, packaging, construction, industrial and consumer electronics markets throughout North America, Europe, Asia and South America. Novelis is a subsidiary of Hindalco Industries Limited, an industry leader in aluminum and copper, and metals flagship company of the Aditya Birla Group, a multinational conglomerate based in Mumbai, India. For more information, visit novelis.com and follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/NovelisInc and Twitter at twitter.com/Novelis.

About RFID Global

A value-added distributor and manufacturer of RFID, NFC and BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) technologies, RFID Global represents 10 leading international manufacturers, including FEIG Electronic for passive RFID systems, with over 400 products in catalog (readers and gateways, antennas, tags/transponders and Beacons, peripherals and add-on devices).

Responding to market expectations and its continuous technological developments, RFID Global introduced in 2015 in its gateway readers and Beacon Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) tags, creating the new BluEpyc Business Unit dedicated to wireless & smart technologies.

The introduction of our RedWave equipment for RFID, is the result of the joint efforts of the R&D department, the new BluEpyc Business Unit, the expert designers and technicians, the educational agenda with free seminars and executive courses, the RFID & BLE Testing Center and the network of certified resellers of RFID Global’s services.  For more information, visit www.rfidglobal.it

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