Nestle, producers of fine quality candy bars, recently introduced EMS technology into a production facility in Illinois that produces the Butterfinger candy bar.

The process of creating these delicious snacks involves storing them in totes as they pass through the various stages of production and packaging. For quality control purposes, these totes require constant cleaning. In the past, problems arose when totes would miss their regularly scheduled cleaning sessions, compromising quality.

Escort Memory Systems offered a solution with the LRP820-08 antenna and LRP-L4982 adhesive tags. In this application, 300 tags are used to keep track of the totes as they pass through production and packaging. The real time tracking system alerts management if there is a problem with the tote, or if it misses a cleaning session. As the totes are filled, information regarding weight and product is written to the tags. When totes pass over scales, the programmed optimal weight is compared to the actual weight of the tote, reducing the risk of overfills. Real time tracking with a time and date stamp ensures that a tote doesn't sit around too long, guaranteeing a fresh product.

As totes travel throughout the facility, the tags are read at several stations by the LRP820-08 reader/writer. These reader/writers then relay the information from the tag to Nestle's operating system.

"We've been very pleased with the technology implemented," says senior control system supervisor Len Woods, commenting on the effectiveness of EMS technology in the past few months. "Everything has preformed great. EMS has made it easier to keep track of where our totes are at any given time."