Following Iveco’s renewal of its contract with Kuehne + Nagel for European aftermarket supply (read more here), the commercial truck and bus maker is expanding the RFID system it uses at its Italian distribution centre in Turin to its Madrid facility in Spain.
The system, which has been developed in conjunction with Kuehne + Nagel and supply chain consulting firm Alfaproject.net, is part of the company’s PARTS.iD initiative, the first in Europe to employ RFID to manage spare parts in the automotive sector according to Kuehne + Nagel.
Working with its partners, Iveco has plans to implement the system throughout the rest of its European distribution facilities once the Madrid project is complete. Iveco supplies spare parts for its trucks and buses throughout a network of nearly 3,500 repair shops in 100 countries.
“The full project will introduce this technology in all Iveco’s plants, including France, Germany and the UK,” Alfaproject’s managing partner, Alessandro Dandolo told Automotive Logistics News. “Now, according to Kuehne + Nagel and Iveco strategies, we are expanding the Turin RFID solution to the other European plants (France, Germany and UK), starting from Madrid, which is planned to go live within the first six months of 2010."
The system, which has been in operation in Turin for a year, facilitates orders for replacement parts shipped by suppliers. Kuehne + Nagel receives the parts and attaches EPC Gen 2 tags encoded with an ID number and printed with a bar code ensuring that dealers can use the same tracking number.
When an Iveco customer places an order the system generates a picking list and requested parts are picked using a handheld bar-code scanner. The parts are weighed and loaded onto trucks, passing through a door-dock RFID portal.
Working on advice from Alfaproject’s feasibility study, Iveco has chosen Intermec products and solutions for the hardware.
