FineLine Technologies develops mould management tool

FineLine Technologies, a provider of variable data tags, labels and s RFID solutions for tyre and rubber manufacturing, automotive, healthcare and retail industries, has announced that it has been granted a new patent by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. US Patent No. 11,453,186 focuses on mould management, described by the company as a ‘critical process’ for the tire and rubber manufacturing industry.

FineLine says Proper mold management is crucial to the overall quality of a tyre accounting for approximately 35 percent of the tyres's quality. The solution utilises embedded Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags of critical mould components for automatic checks of the container, segments, and sidewall plates assigned hierarchal relations, checking the sequence of segments within the container, and aiming to provide a searchable, ‘identifiable’, and status-assigned mould register that automatically stores mould location, production status, and maintenance records. The use of RFID also enables automatic association between mould, bladder, press machine, and an individual tire.

FineLine says its solution has been developed and tested to withstand the harsh production mould processes, such as cleaning, preheating, production cycles, and maintenance. 

FineLine’s Smart Mould Management Solution generates large amounts of data available for tyre manufacturers to  trace the relationships of critical production components, manufacturing processes, and how those relate to finished product quality and performance. FineLine's Industry 4.0 solution aims to enable rubber producers to upgrade legacy manual processes with digital traceability using RFID technology while maintaining backward compatibility and established design and manufacturing processes. 

George Hoffman, CEO of FineLine Technologies said: "We are thrilled to be delivering and implementing this innovative RFID solution with several leading tire manufacturers. At FineLine Technologies, we are committed to continuous improvement and innovation to better serve our customers in the tire and rubber manufacturing industry. Our new solution offers an enormous amount of critical data that is instantly available to our customers, improving efficiency, accuracy, and overall quality of the tyre production process. This patent is a testament to our dedication to provide cutting-edge solutions to the market."