RFID Packaging Innovations: From Smart Labels to Smart Packages
The use of straps for RFID applications can provide the flexibility needed for different label requirements.
August 2006 by Prashant Upreti and Tony Sabetti
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In the mid-1990s, flexible two-dimensional radio-frequency identification (RFID) inlays were introduced by Texas Instruments (TI) to label converting companies as the basis for manufacturing smart labels. Today, smart labels are used to track products in the supply chains of the world’s largest retailers and pharmaceutical manufacturers. Wal-Mart, Target, Tesco, and numerous other companies in North America and Europe, as well as the U.S. Department of Defense, are all in the process of changing over their distribution and supply operations to include RFID.
Since the introduction of inlays less than a decade ago, RFID usage has changed considerably. In these few years, volume has grown from hundreds of thousands to hundreds of millions of units. As the industry has grown and matured, so has the need for consumer goods manufacturers and label converters to expand their product offerings. In order to provide innovative and value-added RFID solutions, RFID label design is moving from the traditional inlay model to a strap form factor to provide lower cost and greater flexibility.
This article examines the evolution of RFID labeling beginning with inlays and smart labels, then discusses straps and the benefits of strap labeling. It addresses straps as a more flexible RFID packaging solution, allowing manufacturers to better accommodate products tracked at both the item and case levels in the global supply chain. This article also discusses how straps provide a tool for cost innovation with high-volume tag production in the assembly line through lower per unit and lower capital costs.
RFID inlays
An RFID tag typically consists of a conductive metallic antenna with a low-power microchip. When passed within range of an active RFID reader, the tag is wirelessly energized by energy transmitted by the reader, and then communicates with the reader.
Today, RFID inlays are typically manufactured on a reel-to-reel process by directly attaching the thin microchips to a narrow web of plastic on which a series of two-dimensional antennas have been printed with conductive ink, or etched from a metal film. The output of this process is a roll of fully-tested inlays.
From inlays to smart labels
The rolled inlays are in an ideal format to be embedded into labels using typical reel-to-reel processing equipment, typically found in a label converting operation. The inlay is usually placed on the bottom side of the label, next to the container, or sandwiched between layers of the label. These “smart labels” are then ready to be placed on pallets, boxes, cartons, crates, and other containers in the supply chain. Inlays can also be embedded in tickets, tags, and other form factors. Under today’s manufacturing processes, smart labels tend to be the most straightforward, cost-effective way of affixing RFID to containers in a manufacturing environment.
Since the introduction of inlays less than a decade ago, RFID usage has changed considerably. In these few years, volume has grown from hundreds of thousands to hundreds of millions of units. As the industry has grown and matured, so has the need for consumer goods manufacturers and label converters to expand their product offerings. In order to provide innovative and value-added RFID solutions, RFID label design is moving from the traditional inlay model to a strap form factor to provide lower cost and greater flexibility.
This article examines the evolution of RFID labeling beginning with inlays and smart labels, then discusses straps and the benefits of strap labeling. It addresses straps as a more flexible RFID packaging solution, allowing manufacturers to better accommodate products tracked at both the item and case levels in the global supply chain. This article also discusses how straps provide a tool for cost innovation with high-volume tag production in the assembly line through lower per unit and lower capital costs.
RFID inlays
An RFID tag typically consists of a conductive metallic antenna with a low-power microchip. When passed within range of an active RFID reader, the tag is wirelessly energized by energy transmitted by the reader, and then communicates with the reader.
Today, RFID inlays are typically manufactured on a reel-to-reel process by directly attaching the thin microchips to a narrow web of plastic on which a series of two-dimensional antennas have been printed with conductive ink, or etched from a metal film. The output of this process is a roll of fully-tested inlays.
From inlays to smart labels
The rolled inlays are in an ideal format to be embedded into labels using typical reel-to-reel processing equipment, typically found in a label converting operation. The inlay is usually placed on the bottom side of the label, next to the container, or sandwiched between layers of the label. These “smart labels” are then ready to be placed on pallets, boxes, cartons, crates, and other containers in the supply chain. Inlays can also be embedded in tickets, tags, and other form factors. Under today’s manufacturing processes, smart labels tend to be the most straightforward, cost-effective way of affixing RFID to containers in a manufacturing environment.
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