Leinfelden-Echterdingen (Germany), March 30, 2020 – Smartrac, an Avery Dennison company (NYSE: AVY) today announced the introduction of its new “Dura” delivery format for a multitude of its inlays and tags, with Dogbone® Dura being the first RAIN RFID (UHF) product available. The new product is designed for industrial, supply chain or logistics applications, such as the tagging of reusable pallets and returnable transport items. The Dura line in general boasts outstanding robustness and water resistance in addition to existing properties, in Dogbone’s case its excellent performance on difficult-to-tag materials.
Smartrac’s Dura delivery format is characterized by thick, semi-stiff thermosetting layers attached to both sides of the antenna/IC structure, which provide effective protection against mechanical and environmental stresses without affecting the overall performance of the underlying inlay design.
Dura versions of most inlays and tags
The Dura delivery format is applicable to virtually the entire range of Smartrac’s inlays and tags, and it will be introduced gradually in the coming months.
All Dura inlays and tags provide a level of durability that is close to that of hard tags while retaining their advantages in terms of cost efficiency, flexibility (reel format available) and weight. To underline this, Dogbone Dura has been tested to EN60068-2-27 (mechanical shock) and EN60068-2-6 (vibration) standards.
Dogbone Dura is available with the Impinj Monza R6-P IC that comes with an Autotune feature, which helps the Dogbone product to work at peak efficiency, even in rapidly changing environments. Dogbone Dura’s IC enables pre-serialized EPC and offers unique TID as well as other features.
Dogbone Dura is printer-compatible and available in wet and dry formats. Wet format tags come with water-resistant high-strength adhesive, while dry format tags have extensions to allow a punch hole for attachment.
Feasible alternative to hard tags for less than extreme environments
“By introducing a new delivery format that turns our tried and trusted inlays and tags into ruggedized products, Smartrac is once again demonstrating its ability to listen to its customers’ demands and to break new ground. DURA inlays and tags provide a feasible alternative in application areas where extra robustness and water resistance are needed, but the environment does not call for the distinctive survivability of hard tags,” said Dr. Juha Virtanen, Vice President Product Development at Smartrac.
Dogbone Dura inlays and tags will be available in high volumes from Q2 2020.
