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Wireless Networks

Notes carefully planned, the right materials must be delivered to the right place at the right time
to meet construction schedules. This is essential to customer satisfaction.
Burnett explains: “If a load of bricks is not delivered on time, if a shipment is sent to the
wrong location, or if the product delivered does not match the order specifications, the
entire construction job can be delayed until the right materials can be obtained. This is a
costly proposition for builders and, for their suppliers, it can result in punitive fines and
even law suits.”
Many of the problems experienced by brick manufacturers occur not in the factory, but
rather in the brickyard where inventory is stored and prepared for shipment. Manufactured
bricks for the construction trade are massed in strapped loads of about 500 bricks to a
cube, often called a hack. The cubes are delivered to the brickyard where they sit outdoors,
subject to dust, dirt, rain, sleet and snow – making it difficult to label the cubes with vital
product information such as electronic product codes and lot numbers. Lot numbers are
important, since the same type of bricks manufactured on one day will vary somewhat
in color from bricks made the next day. Builders and contractors may refuse to accept a
‘mixed run’ shipment if the colors are poorly matched.

Before Stark RFID developed the StarkFG solution, entering the newly manufactured
cubes of brick into inventory and deciding where it should be stored was a manual process
typically performed by brickyard personnel. It was a time- and labor-intensive process,
prone to human error. Similarly, when it was time to assemble and load an order for
shipping, the process was reversed. This also led to frequent mistakes as workers spent a
great deal of time finding, identifying and loading the right cubes of bricks to transport via
forklift to waiting trucks.
“We knew these inventory management and quality control issues were the major pain
points to be addressed in creating a solution that would bring a higher level of automation
to brickyard management,” says Burnett. “The concept of building a system for this
application on RFID technology struck us as the perfect answer.”
Real-Time Inventory Tracking

StarkFG is the first RFID-enabled solution designed specifically to help brick manufacturers
automate their inventory management and order fulfillment processes. With this system,
the company can print and encode rugged 8-inch wide labels with all the necessary product
information, then fold the labels and affix them to each strapped cube of new bricks.
When the cubes are delivered to the brickyard, StarkFG’s bin loading module informs the
forklift operator’s computer where to place the cubes in the yard, based on the type of
product being unloaded. Once the bricks have been placed in the proper bin, the inventory
system is automatically updated. Likewise, once they are removed from the yard for
shipping, they are automatically removed from the inventory count.
More Accurate Order Fulfillment

When an order is scheduled for shipping, the enterprise system generates a pick list and
bill of lading and beams them to the computer of a forklift operator, who is directed to
the right product location. There the RFID reader reads the tag to verify that the product
specifications match the order printed on the pick list and bill of lading before the brick
cubes are lifted and loaded for transport to the assigned truck. This process of order
location, product identification and verification, which could take a significant amount of
time in a manual system, has now been reduced to mere minutes. And, with positive RFID
tag identification, the inventory manager and brickyard personnel have the assurance that
the right order has been picked.
Combining rugged hardware and weather-proof RFID tags, the StarkFG system eliminates
the physical counting of and finding cubes in the brickyard by enabling the product
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