LONDON—Kumho Tire has started applying radio-frequency identification (RFID) system on ‘half-finished' tires since June 16, the Korean tire maker said in a statement.
“We are now using an IoT-based (Internet-of-Things) production and distribution integrated management system to apply RFID system on our half-finished products,” said Kumho, claiming that this was a world-first in the industry.
Kumho said it had started fitting RFID tags on complete bus and truck tires manufactured in its Gwangju and Gokseong sites in Korea and for original equipment tires in 2013. The tags have been fitted on complete passenger tires since late last year.
“Because of the success we're now putting them on half-finished tires too,” the tire maker added.
Kumho said the technology will enable it to manage products more efficiently than its competitors. RFID allows access to information about a product's location, storage and release history, as well as its inventory management.
With the system, the tire maker said, “we expect to have more thorough quality control, such as first-in-first-out and real-time production management.”