Today’s car buyers typically order a number of custom options for their vehicles at the time of purchase. In turn, the automaker must identify and track each vehicle throughout the production process to ensure that all options are installed. Volvo Car Corp. uses RFID tags to meet this challenge.
For many years, the Swedish automaker used three methods to identify and track each vehicle: bar code technology during general manufacturing, active RFID in the paint shop, and large bar codes on the final-assembly line. Besides being costly to maintain, this approach lacked reliability and often caused production disturbances throughout the factory.