Datamonitor News, July 31, 2008
WhereNet, a Zebra Technologies company and provider of wireless solutions, has announced that Navistar Defense has deployed its active RFID, real-time locating system to automate work-in-process tracking at its West Point, Mississippi manufacturing facility.
The system will help in reducing production costs and accelerate delivery of the MaxxPro Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles for the US Department of Defense. MaxxPro MRAP vehicles are designed to protect troops from roadside bombs and other growing threats in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Spanning more than one million square feet indoors and out, the WhereNet system consists of a local infrastructure of five wireless WhereLAN location sensors and 13 WhereLAN locating access points that can be used for determining the location of assets as well as Wi-Fi mobile data communication; 400 active RFID WhereTag transmitters that are attached to MRAP chassis at the beginning of the armor-plating process; and WherePort magnetic 'exciters' that trigger the transmitters to emit a signal when entering or leaving a specific work cell, enabling the system to automatically record such information as arrival, dwell, and departure time without any human intervention.
WhereNet said its Visibility Software Suite (VSS) will provide constant visibility for each tagged vehicle, enabling Navistar to track and manage the manufacturing of every MRAP vehicle as it passes through the assembly, paint, testing, adjustment, and inspection processes. After the on-site defense department officials perform the final testing on each finished MRAP vehicle, the WhereTag transmitters are removed, and the vehicles are loaded onto flatbed trailers for final delivery.
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