Early Adopters in RFID Converting
Several companies that were on the bleeding edge of RFID implementation answer some questions on the experience.
August 2006 by Tom Polischuk
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FID has exploded through the critical mass point, with more and more companies getting involved. A few companies, though, have been producing RFID products for several years now. In the following Q&A, several of these companies describe their involvement over the years and some of their experiences.
pP: What is your company’s background?
Nancy Mitchell, national product manager, RFID, RR Donnelley—RR Donnelley is a full-service global print provider and the largest printing company in North America, serving customers in publishing, healthcare, advertising, retail, telecommunications, technology, financial services, and many other industries. Founded more than 140 years ago, the company provides solutions in commercial printing, forms and labels, direct mail, financial printing, print fulfillment, business communication outsourcing, logistics, online services, digital photography, color services, and content and database management. Some of the largest companies in the world and others rely on RR Donnelley’s scale, scope, and insight through a comprehensive range of online tools, variable printing services, and market-specific solutions.
Mark Davenport, president, Mid South Graphics—Mid South Graphics is a prime label company that was established in 1957.
Tom Hartmann, RFID manager, Topflight Corporation—Topflight Corporation was established in 1943 in York, Pa. Today, it is an independently held, ISO 9001:2000-certified company, with corporate headquarters in Glen Rock, Pa.
Topflight Corporation’s field of specialty is information and signal delivery. After years of developing various components and systems for production of RFID labels, the company is positioned to support most of the efforts in this market to meet various global mandates or special initiatives among different verticals. We currently staff four certified RFID experts, trained in the fundamentals, implementation, limitations, and programming of RFID systems. This was done to provide a strong RFID backbone in order to support the general efforts of companies we deal with who are involved in RFID.
Topflight began printing flex circuits in the 1970s and with that came printed antennas. We have supported the general RFID markets throughout the 1990s, mainly printing functional materials, such as in-house blended conductive inks. Starting into the 2000s, Topflight accelerated this effort by assisting one of the main players in the UHF space for RFID. We have since converted many inlays of different frequencies from around the globe and are also technically innovative in areas that may soon help the RFID market, such as printed transistors.
pP: What is your company’s background?
Nancy Mitchell, national product manager, RFID, RR Donnelley—RR Donnelley is a full-service global print provider and the largest printing company in North America, serving customers in publishing, healthcare, advertising, retail, telecommunications, technology, financial services, and many other industries. Founded more than 140 years ago, the company provides solutions in commercial printing, forms and labels, direct mail, financial printing, print fulfillment, business communication outsourcing, logistics, online services, digital photography, color services, and content and database management. Some of the largest companies in the world and others rely on RR Donnelley’s scale, scope, and insight through a comprehensive range of online tools, variable printing services, and market-specific solutions.
Mark Davenport, president, Mid South Graphics—Mid South Graphics is a prime label company that was established in 1957.
Tom Hartmann, RFID manager, Topflight Corporation—Topflight Corporation was established in 1943 in York, Pa. Today, it is an independently held, ISO 9001:2000-certified company, with corporate headquarters in Glen Rock, Pa.
Topflight Corporation’s field of specialty is information and signal delivery. After years of developing various components and systems for production of RFID labels, the company is positioned to support most of the efforts in this market to meet various global mandates or special initiatives among different verticals. We currently staff four certified RFID experts, trained in the fundamentals, implementation, limitations, and programming of RFID systems. This was done to provide a strong RFID backbone in order to support the general efforts of companies we deal with who are involved in RFID.
Topflight began printing flex circuits in the 1970s and with that came printed antennas. We have supported the general RFID markets throughout the 1990s, mainly printing functional materials, such as in-house blended conductive inks. Starting into the 2000s, Topflight accelerated this effort by assisting one of the main players in the UHF space for RFID. We have since converted many inlays of different frequencies from around the globe and are also technically innovative in areas that may soon help the RFID market, such as printed transistors.
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