Biomet implant manufacturer Biomet started an RFID label project in the Netherlands. The company believes this will improve his customer service while improving its own reverse logistics.
Beginning in July, the company's Biomet Europe zone will add EPC Gen 2 UHF tags to five orthopaedic knee implants that have been sent to surgeons' "replacement" devices. Each device contains about 100 components. By adding an RFID tag to the plastic package outside each component, the company believes it can better determine which substitute devices are complete before being shipped and then quickly and accurately. The land is checked after returning.
Beginning in July, the company's Biomet Europe zone will add EPC Gen 2 UHF tags to five orthopaedic knee implants that have been sent to surgeons' "replacement" devices.
Each set of equipment contains all of the implant components required to replace and repair knees, buttocks or other joints. A knee surgery may use 10 different components. Although many components are shipped in a group of devices, only a few of them are used for each particular operation. After the required parts have been selected, the remaining parts of the equipment will return to the Biomet distribution center in Dordrecht, The Netherlands.
After the parts have been transported back to the distribution center, the company will have to detect which parts are missing from the equipment in order to properly issue the corresponding invoice, and Biomet will then supplement the missing replacement before sending the equipment again.
All parts are now identified by a bar code label on the part package. To check for missing parts and calculate the corresponding invoices, a worker is required to scan every bar code — a time-consuming, error-prone process that usually takes 20 minutes. Biomet expects to use RFID to track these shipments in its warehouse, while at the same time improving inventory counting and improving delivery reliability and volume.
During the test, those parts of the substitute equipment intended to be added will have to be tagged and part of the supplemental processing program. For many reasons, the company has not studied how much time can be saved through the use of RFID.
Only knee replacements will be tested at this project node. Earlier test reports showed that the reading rate of the knee parts can reach 100%, however, some of the company's other products have been proved to be difficult to reliably attach a tag and read correctly. For example, the spine component is obviously too small to affix a label, and the bonding agent used to fuse the replacement part of the body is packaged in a metal foil, causing a conflict with the radio frequency signal of the label, resulting in lower reading rate.
Jan Willem Bartz, former information director of Biomet in Europe, is now the general manager of RFID system integrator Applaza. Biomet's initial test was the EPC Gen1 tag test conducted in 2004. The result was that the actual RFID reading rate was too low. However, in December last year, the company began trials using phase jitter adjustment (PJM) tunnel readers and EPC Gen2 tags supplied by Australian HF RFID expert Magellan Technology. The system is said to have reached the 100% read rate required by this application.
Biomet began experimenting in 2005, using Magellan's channel reader and EPC Gen 2 tag to achieve 100% recognition rate.
This summer, Biomet plans to use Aivar Technology's 4x8 cm label, which is made with inlay from Tagstar. From the start of the trial, the RFID system will be fully integrated with Biomet's mySAP enterprise resource planning system, which is used to integrate SAP's automated identity system application development software. Bartz said. "The SAP system will handle both RFID-tagged and RFID-free products in the same way.
This software integration means that the RFID used for trials will be part of the company's day-to-day operations - a necessary part, Bartz said, to determine the value of using RFID. He said "The solution must be 100% realized so that we can compare it with existing operations."
The date for determining the effectiveness of the RFID system has not yet been set, but Bartz believes that any benefits it brings may facilitate the continued installation of tags for alternative devices, including those of other types of implants, such as hip replacements, as well as Biomet's. Deploy RFID in other distribution centers in Europe.
In addition, Bartz pointed out that RFID may not only help Biomet, but also help his hospital customers. Hospitals with tunnel readers will be able to know exactly which parts have been shipped so that it is not necessary to check the box to confirm that the required parts for surgery are in place.
Source: RFID World Network