Edited Press Release.

OMRON Corporation announced availability of the V750 series Gen2 Global Loop inlay which can be used under North American, European and Japanese radio frequency bands in a single tag design. Aimed at consumer electronics manufacturers and suppliers to major retailers, the new inlay will be ready for shipment from early August 2006.

The Gen2 Loop is optimized to ensure robust read performance when the tag is applied to items containing materials unfriendly to RFID, for example, the metallic components used in electronics equipment and products with high moisture content. With non-metallic objects, the Gen2 Loop realizes the same high read performance as the Class 1 Loop inlay currently available from OMRON (see Figure 1 below).In addition, the new inlay delivers a read performance of approximately 1 meter even when in close proximity to metal objects (see Figure 2 below). The Loop tag also delivers reliable read ranges when the orientation on the product is not fixed or could change after application. As a direct result, the Loop inlay can improve pallet tag read rates.

OMRON Gen2 global loop inlays can be used with all international UHF RFID frequencies from 860 to 960MHz with little or no performance degradation. The addition of the Global Loop inlay to the already announced Wave tag expands OMRON's ability to meet a wide range of applications for today's international supply chain needs. Potential applications of the new inlay include tags and labels for use in the electrical appliance and pharmaceutical industries, where the ability to read large shipments of products speedily, simultaneously and from a distance will realize significant cost reductions.

"With RFID deployments expanding both globally and to a wider range of SKU's, a global tag that performs across all UHF frequency bands and is less sensitive to materials and orientation is clearly a benefit for our customers," says Bill Arnold, chief strategist at OMRON RFID. "If a company uses the OMRON global inlay, then it has no need to handle the complexity of different tag selection for each region or SKU requirements. This means our Gen2 global loop inlays help to reduce total RFID tag application costs and operation time."

Table 1
Model   V750-D22M02-IM
Minimum delivery lot   5000 pcs/roll
Inlay price   Open price
Protocol   EPCglobal Class 1 Generation 2
Operating frequencyUHF band: 860MHz to 960MHz (Japan, U.S., Europe, China, Asia, etc.)
Memory   240 bits NVM(EPC: 96 bits)
Dimensions   68mm×70mm
Operating temperature   -20˚C to 55˚C (no icing, no condensation)
Storage temperature   -20˚C to 55˚C (no icing, no condensation)
Storage humidity (maximum)   60% RH

External view of V750 Series Gen2 Loop Inlay




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Labels: china, epcglobal, gen2, inlay, japan, omron, rfid, scm, tag, technology

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UPM Rafsec, an RFID tag and inlay manufacturer, announced on Monday that it has entered into an agreement with Supply Chain and Logistics Technology Holdings Limited (SCL), a joint-venture of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU), to deliver UPM Rafsec Gen 2 RFID tags. UPM Rafsec together with SCL will supply tags to Novetex Spinners Limited (Novetex), a single site woollen spinner, for the project that will mark the first Gen 2 RFID initiative in Hong Kong and the South China region.

The new RFID system being deployed for Novetex by SCL, consultant as well
as hardware & solution provider for the project will touch three different
processes in Novetex’s Zhuhai warehouse - the receiving process, cycle
counting and the delivery process. Novetex expects substantial enhancements in operating efficiency at its warehouse when the project is fully deployed.

Marcus Vaenerberg, Vice President Sales at UPM Rafsec, comments “We’re
extremely excited to be taking part in the first Gen 2 project in the
South China region. The technology is just starting to take hold here.
However this region is very dynamic. Our collaboration with SCL, an ideal
partner for us, will permit us to expand our presence significantly in
this rapidly growing market.”

Novetex’s complete RFID identification and tracking solution will go live
in early 2006.

Labels: china, gen2, inlay, project, rfid, scm, tag, technology, tracking

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DOMINANT Semiconductors announces the release of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags to deliver high level of performance in automatic identification and tracking objects.

The total RFID tag production solution provided by DOMINANT covers the converting processes like inlay assembly and the test from raw materials to finished goods such as smart tags. The flip chip technology enables DOMINANT to provide superior RFID tag product quality with competitive pricing.

DOMINANT provides three types of tags classified as per their radio frequency – HF at 13.56 MHz, UHF at 860-960 MHz and microwave at 2.45 GHz.

By adopting RFID technology, companies are able to optimize the accuracy of data collection – something that is not always possible with traditional systems. DOMINANT plays an important role as one of the RFID tag suppliers on a global scale where demand for compliant RFID tag is growing dramatically. The company aims to be the forefront in the RFID market by providing RFID tag products with superior quality in large quantities.


About DOMINANT Semiconductors

DOMINANT Semiconductors is an excellence-driven organization, offering a comprehensive variety of product range and selection for diverse industries and applications. With extensive industry experience and relentless pursuit of innovation, DOMINANT Semiconductors, with its state-of-the-art manufacturing, research and testing capabilities, has become a trusted and reliable brand across the globe. It develops and manufactures high quality RFID (radio frequency identification) tags used in automatic identification, tracking and supply chain management, which are specialized in high quality, high volume production. More information about DOMINANT Semiconductors can be found on the Internet at http://www.dominant-semi.com/rfid. DOMINANT is a QS 9000 and ISO9001 certified company.

Marketing Communication
Tee Mei Ghee
Tel: +60 (06) 2833566 (Ext: 2117)
Fax: +60 (06) 2830566
Email: mei-ghee.tee@dominant-semi.com
Website: http://www.dominant-semi.com/rfid

Labels: dominant, inlay, rfid, scm, tag, technology, tracking

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After RFID tag manufacturers such as Alien Technologies and Avery Dennison recently announced their reduced price for tags and inlays in the psychological level of less than 20 cents and less than 10 cents for purchases of high quantity volumes of one million or more units,
UPM Rafsec today announced their UHF Gen 1 and Gen 2 inlays (OneTennaTM short dipole) at the similar pricing level of sub-10 cents with much lower purchase quantity level of 50,000 units.

At almost the same time, RFID Reader vendors, such as Applied Wireless Identifications (AWID) today announced its low price Gen2 reader, MPR-3014 for $1,000, according to RFID Update.

What does this “extreme” RFID hardware price trend mean?

In some rising economy regions that are tolerant of high prices, such as Scandinavia, these price changes are less significant than the South Asia region, for example. Nonetheless, lower RFID hardware price could leverage the total value of an RFID implementation in any region, assuming some other factors remain relatively the same.

In a simplified economic theory, price relates to supply and demand, i.e. an increase in demand could lead to a higher price and an increase in supply could lead to a lower price. A plausible explanation to the lower price could be a situation of over supply, where RFID hardware vendors have over predicted their sales volume due to hypes and adoption delay.

Another factor that could influence price is disruption. Technological disruption, such as a breakthrough in inlay manufacturing process, for instance, could lead to lower price. It is less probable that a breakthrough has happened. It is more probable to assume that vendors are outsourcing to Asia due to the fact that Asian countries are well known for their low-cost manufacturing capabilities.

In the current situation, there is a third factor that could influence the price, i.e. market positioning. The fierce competition in the RFID hardware market has forced several companies to cease operation or merge. The introduction of Gen2 specifications by EPCglobal has provided an edge for the existing and new RFID vendors to position their products in the market. By announcing their products as low-cost Gen2 compliance products first, they hope to gain a market share for some companies that have delayed RFID adoption due to high costs and lack of standardisation.

Quo Vadis?

There is no simple explanation for the current RFID hardware price trend.

Even though, it is still too early to conclude the beginning of RFID Hardware Price War, these announcements do spark some questions: Will this trend continue? How low can they go?

Only time will tell.

Labels: epcglobal, hardware, inlay, price, reader, rfid, tag, technology

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