An innovative automatic traceability system for material flows in industrial plants

Purpose The article is centred on the analysis of internal flow traceability of products within indoor environments. The purpose of the paper is to provide an innovative automatic solution for the traceability of everything that moves within industrial plants, in order to simplify and improve the process of logistics flow traceability and optimisation. Design/Methodology/Approach In order to analyse the traceability of material flows within indoor environments, the authors have developed an experimental research consisting in a prototype development based on a Radio Frequency IDentification (RFID) system using Ultra Wind Band (UWB) technology. The authors have realised several tests (static and dynamic) that trace the positions (static) and map the movements (dynamic) of products within indoor environments in continuous and in real-time. Originality/Value The paper presents an innovative automatic traceability system for the optimal determination and measurement of the positions and paths travelled by products within industrial plants. The traceability system described in the paper is able to quickly provide the measurement (i.e. positions and paths) with a high level of accuracy and precision in a continuous manner and not only collecting several gates crossing.