## 1 Introduction
It should also be noted that, in addition to the recent drive towards mass customisation through the digitisation of products, production systems, and supply chains, as well as the significant contribution that automatic identification technologies play in these systems, there is an urgent need to assess the barriers to the successful adoption of more advanced technologies associated with the IoT [7]. The main aim of this work is to analyse and assess a prototype tracking system designed for a specific section of the shop floor in a company specialising in the design and production of automotive wiring test and control equipment. This specific section is responsible for packaging products into boxes, considering various conditions for grouping items, using different types of boxes, and accommodating specific customer requirements. The innovation introduced in this study involves the application of radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology as an alternative to the existing barcode system. The goal is to demonstrate the promising potential of the new RFID-based tracking system. This demonstration is achieved through intensive practical experimentation conducted directly on the shop floor. The intended impact of this research extends beyond the specific case study of this company. It aims to showcase how the practical application of the proposed tracking system can benefit not only this company but also other production industries with similar operational characteristics. The results and conclusions drawn from this study can be highly relevant and applicable across a broader range of production sectors that align with the study's subject matter. Thus, this introduction highlights the application and the objectives of the case study. Also, there is an attempt to contribute to the research and development process for the system explored during the research, developing some parts to turn it into a viable option to be adopted even by small companies. This article is organised into six sections. In Section 1, the introduction is presented and the subject under study is outlined, as well as the respective framework, the main objectives of the study, the research methodology used, and the organisation of the document. In Section 2, the state of the art of traceability systems, including the technology used and some applications of RFID are provided. In Section 3, materials, both hardware and software and methods, as well as a brief presentation and characterisation of the company of the case study, are described. Section 4 discusses the results obtained during the RFID test simulations carried out for the prototype fixed RFID reading system. Its performance and added value are also assessed. Section 5 discusses the current technological status of the company, in terms of traceability, describes the implementation model used, and, furthermore, provides a quantitative and qualitative analysis of the results obtained with the implementation of a traceability system supported by the automatic identification and data capture (AIDC) technology applied in the study. Section 6 concludes the paper and provides guidelines for future work.