Choosing an RFID tag provider
One of the keys to growing your system integration business is choosing the right tag provider and partner. The right tag often determines the success of an RFID implementation from the very beginning. Experienced system integrators understand that they need to be part of the ecosystem, just as for large projects, many partners need to work together.
Product portfolio
You will need to choose a tag provider that has a broad product portfolio so that you can provide tags that will work on a wide variety of products and items. We provide not just passive LF, HF, NFC and RAIN RFID (UHF) inlays and tags, but also an array of sizes, shapes, enclosures and other features to meet even very challenging and unique project needs. As you can see in our Product Finder it is the broadest array of inlays and tags in the market and is well protected by more than 1,750 patents and patent applications worldwide.
Quality
Just as important as a strong product portfolio is quality. Sometimes a small fraction of RFID inlays in a production run can have a shorter read range or be completely non-functional due to a defective chip or other issue. It’s important that these are not converted into labels or tags and delivered to brands and enterprise customers. We have extensive quality control processes in place at each stage of the production process, in order to ensure premium quality products. We not only mark defective inlays, as most other inlay providers do, but we can inactivate the chip so the inlay will not work and cannot be used unintentionally. To underpin our commitment to premium quality, we work closely with Auburn University RFID Lab and are the only company globally to be awarded with the ARC Accreditation for Quality.
Technical support
Choosing a suitable RFID product for a specific item to be tagged is crucial and sometimes more complex than anticipated. It’s important for you to work with a provider that can provide comprehensive advice about options to use and the proper placement of the finished label or hard tag on the item.
If required, we will take item samples to our test labs, simulate the environment of the planned deployment, conduct a professional analysis and recommend a product option and positioning for the RFID label or hard tag. Also, our design facilities can develop custom tags or labels for very specific requirements.
Sampling service
It’s important to be able to get sample tags quickly so that you can provide samples to your customers, as they begin exploring whether RFID will work for their needs. We can provide samples of many products within 24 hours.
Capacity
It’s also crucial to choose a tag provider that has the manufacturing capacity to deliver the tags you need in a timely and reliable manner. We have continually invested in expanding our production capacity to more than 10 billion units annually across seven manufacturing facilities, backed up by distribution centers around the world to be able to deliver inlays when and where they are needed.
In addition, we have an extensive network of label converters and service bureaus that can turn our premium quality inlays into tags and labels for projects.
Sustainability
Governments, businesses and consumers are increasingly preferring suppliers that reduce their carbon footprint and the amount of waste going into landfill, especially plastic and waste that can leach harmful substances into soil and groundwater. With our Sustainable Tags we replace polyethylene terephthalate (PET) with a paper substrate, reducing the contamination of recycled paper with plastics. For our aluminum antennas we use precision-laser cutting, effectively eliminating etching chemicals, further reducing our carbon footprint and enabling the complete recycling of cutting residues.
