Tire Giant Michelin Drives Digitalization with RFID
Digital Tires
Tagged Truck Tires
The goal of the world's second largest tire manufacturer is to connect all tires it produces. Michelin already embeds RFID transponders in 80 percent of all Michelin truck tires sold today worldwide, and 95 percent in Europe and North America, for example to digitize tire operations in fleet management. Soon, Michelin will label all truck tires produced with RFID tags, in line with the passenger car segment.
RFID Integration in Bad Homburg
All RFID transponders to be embedded in Michelin tires are mechanically encased in a rubber layer at the German manufacturing site in Homburg. The transponders are then either installed directly in tire production at the plant or delivered to other Michelin factories in Europe or to Michelin locations across continents in Brazil, China, Thailand and India. Currently, the Homburg plant has the capacity to prepare up to 15 million RFID transponders per year with a casing for embedding in tires. With the goal of making all tires RFID-enabled by 2023, demand is increasing, leading to the launch of another RFID tag encapsulation line at Michelin's Saarland plant in November 2020.
Benfits for Workshops
A benefit of RFID-tagged tires is the prevention of incorrect mounting when changing tires in the workshop. Since each tire has an individual digital identifier, the correct tire dimension can be transmitted. In conjunction with automatic air pressure monitoring based on data from the TPMS (Tire Pressure Monitoring System) valves, the identifier is transmitted to the on-board computer via the vehicle's electronics.
If a malfunction has occurred, a corresponding warning appears on the on-board computer. Mechanics save time because all tire data is displayed directly on the handheld when the RFID chip is read. Manual checks are no longer necessary. All operations are linked to the tire ID and documented. Another benefit of using RFID in tires is a reduction in working time when checking stock levels. Result: Reorders are demand-oriented and bottlenecks are eliminated.
End-of-Life Management
RFID enables access to cloud-based information concerning the service life. RFID facilitates tire sorting at the end of the tire's lifespan by retrieving valuable data, such as the special characteristics of the tire for recycling. The data is provided to collectors. RFID also contributes to the improvement of the reuse rate of tires via the preselection of tires to be inspected through the leveraging of data.
Driving Safety Systems
Automated driving systems in particular require condition monitoring data. This also applies to the condition of the tires, as these are crucial for driving safety. The networking of tires and vehicle ensures that driving safety systems are controlled in a more refined way. In the future, it will be possible to adapt the control of driving dynamics (ESP, PSM, DSC, etc.) to the tire characteristics (winter tires, summer tires and tire dimensions). The electronic systems can thus be automatically adjusted to the braking, acceleration and curving behavior of the tires.
Tagged Truck Tires
The goal of the world's second largest tire manufacturer is to connect all tires it produces. Michelin already embeds RFID transponders in 80 percent of all Michelin truck tires sold today worldwide, and 95 percent in Europe and North America, for example to digitize tire operations in fleet management. Soon, Michelin will label all truck tires produced with RFID tags, in line with the passenger car segment.
RFID Integration in Bad Homburg
All RFID transponders to be embedded in Michelin tires are mechanically encased in a rubber layer at the German manufacturing site in Homburg. The transponders are then either installed directly in tire production at the plant or delivered to other Michelin factories in Europe or to Michelin locations across continents in Brazil, China, Thailand and India.
Currently, the Homburg plant has the capacity to prepare up to 15 million RFID transponders per year with a casing for embedding in tires. With the goal of making all tires RFID-enabled by 2023, demand is increasing, leading to the launch of another RFID tag encapsulation line at Michelin's Saarland plant in November 2020.
Benfits for Workshops
A benefit of RFID-tagged tires is the prevention of incorrect mounting when changing tires in the workshop. Since each tire has an individual digital identifier, the correct tire dimension can be transmitted. In conjunction with automatic air pressure monitoring based on data from the TPMS (Tire Pressure Monitoring System) valves, the identifier is transmitted to the on-board computer via the vehicle's electronics.
If a malfunction has occurred, a corresponding warning appears on the on-board computer. Mechanics save time because all tire data is displayed directly on the handheld when the RFID chip is read. Manual checks are no longer necessary. All operations are linked to the tire ID and documented. Another benefit of using RFID in tires is a reduction in working time when checking stock levels. Result: Reorders are demand-oriented and bottlenecks are eliminated.
End-of-Life Management
RFID enables access to cloud-based information concerning the service life. RFID facilitates tire sorting at the end of the tire's lifespan by retrieving valuable data, such as the special characteristics of the tire for recycling. The data is provided to collectors. RFID also contributes to the improvement of the reuse rate of tires via the preselection of tires to be inspected through the leveraging of data.
Driving Safety Systems
Automated driving systems in particular require condition monitoring data. This also applies to the condition of the tires, as these are crucial for driving safety. The networking of tires and vehicle ensures that driving safety systems are controlled in a more refined way. In the future, it will be possible to adapt the control of driving dynamics (ESP, PSM, DSC, etc.) to the tire characteristics (winter tires, summer tires and tire dimensions). The electronic systems can thus be automatically adjusted to the braking, acceleration and curving behavior of the tires.