Built Ready for Manufacturing: How to Improve Security, Accountability and Safety with Embedded OEM Readers

On the plant floor, efficiency is a top priority. To get products out the door on time, manufacturers need to reduce downtime and streamline processes whenever possible.

However, security and compliance issues can grind productivity to a halt. Password reset requests cause employees to waste needless time troubleshooting login issues with IT instead of moving items through the production line. Not to mention, password sharing on open workstations leads to unauthorized access to equipment — and if a password ends up in the hands of a bad actor, it can lead to severe consequences down the production line. In worst case scenarios, this can result in product injury, quality issues, batch re-runs and costly downtime.

As an OEM project manager, you can proactively solve these issues for your manufacturing and industrial end customers by building authentication and logical access control into your equipment with embedded readers, which enable workers to authenticate and gain access with the tap of a badge. And, you can do so in a way that future-proofs your product offerings for changing market conditions, so your products remain competitive and compliant for their entire lifecycle.

Build For the Future with Embedded Readers

By embedding credential readers into your equipment, you can offer a more robust product suite that is built ready for security and accountability.

Embedded readers have a wide range of industrial use cases, which include Human Machine Interface (HMIs), Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs), time clocks, industrial vending machines, forklifts, lockers and more. This versatility allows for enhanced security throughout the entire plant floor, bringing user authentication to areas that previously were not compatible with peripheral readers.

Before you build a new technology into your product, it’s important to consider a few factors:

1. Compatibility: You need a reader that’s compatible with a wide range of credentials. Why? Because the equipment you sell needs to be compatible with the logical access control systems your customers already use (or may adopt down the road). You want a partner that can advise you on the best solutions that allow you to repackage your product for new customers and verticals.
2. Essential integrations: Our partnerships with leading automation providers such as Rockwell Automation, Siemens, AVENA and Ignition by Inductive Automation mean that devices embedded with our readers integrate easily into your customers’ existing systems.
3. Cleanliness: Embedding a reader into your equipment eliminates the need for additional peripherals, and subsequently makes washdown procedures streamlined. This allows the equipment to easily meet safety and cleanliness compliance standards, reducing the presence of airborne debris, a common culprit on factory floors. 

Choose the Right Embedded Reader Partner

When you partner with rf IDEAS for your embedded reader needs, you benefit from our:

• Customer intimacy: Manufacturers are our end customers, too. We know your target market intimately — and that means we can help you design custom solutions that serve their growing identity and security needs.
• Long track record: Our WAVE ID® Embedded OEM readers are highly reliable, even after years of use in market. Even better, we can use firmware updates to patch issues or add new capabilities as your end customers’ authentication needs evolve.
• Best-in-class global support: Our network of experts are available to assist you with integration complexities and troubleshoot any issues that arise.
• Wide compatibility: rf IDEAS’ SDKs, APIs and other tools make WAVE ID readers compatible with a wide range of credential configurations from HID, MIFARE and LEGIC, so your device will be, too. WAVE ID readers also support biometric authentication and work with all leading mobile wallets to support authentication for applications not directly on the plant floor, like time clocks and lockers.

No matter what credentials and systems your end customers are already using, WAVE ID will fit right in. Our comprehensive set of capabilities positions you to seamlessly integrate embedded readers that benefit your industrial customers for years to come.

Level Up Your Manufacturing Devices with Embedded Readers

rf IDEAS’ WAVE ID® Embedded OEM readers are an ideal security upgrade for your manufacturing equipment. They’re compact and space efficient, a perfect fit for integration into a wide range of products.

Embedded readers are vital for helping your customers implement stronger access solutions and, ultimately, create a more secure and accountable plant floor — using the same credentials they’re already familiar with.

Ready to enhance your equipment with WAVE ID® Embedded OEM readers?

Learn more about our OEM solutions here.