Canadian
A Canadian steel processing facility produces rolled steel coils to customer-specific metallurgical specifications for customers across North America. Finished coils are physically identical. Weighing several tonnes each and distinguished only by internal composition, there is no visual way to tell them apart on the yard. The existing loading process relied on paper manifests and a two-person crew, making it slow, labour-intensive, and dependent on human accuracy under pressure. A single misshipment—like a coil delivered cross-border to the wrong customer—could generate direct costs exceeding $10,000, not counting customer supply chain disruption.
PiiComm designed an integrated solution spanning the production floor, outdoor yard, and heavy equipment fleet. Heat-resistant RFID tags—engineered to survive the intense thermal environment of freshly-produced coils—were applied at the production line. RFID readers mounted on heavy-lift tractors and ruggedized in-cab computers gave operators real-time load instructions and scan confirmation as coils were picked, converting a two-person paper process into a single-operator, system-guided workflow. Industrial wireless infrastructure was deployed across the full campus, and software integration connected coil inventory, order data, and RFID scan events into a unified system.
The system validated load accuracy before the truck left the yard. Tractor operators could confirm the correct coil was on the hook before moving, replacing manual verification with real-time scan confirmation. The ROI from this solution was immediate. A single prevented misshipment, which avoided cross-border returns, emergency reshipping, and customer penalties, was sufficient to cover the investment. The engagement also demonstrated PiiComm’s ability to deliver a cohesive solution across hardware sourcing, wireless infrastructure, and software integration in a demanding industrial environment.
Contact PiiComm today to learn how our RFID and rugged mobile solutions can eliminate costly shipping errors and streamline your production and yard workflows.
