Avery Dennison, a supplier of substrates and adhesive solutions, has ramped up its efforts in the RFID market. The RFID space encapsulates multiple smart technologies, including Ultra High Frequency (UHF), High Frequency (HF), and Near Field Communication (NFC).
 
Avery Dennison is promoting TT Sensor Plus and NFC DirectLink. According to Kevin Rinehart, leader of Intelligent Labels North America at Avery Dennison Label and Packaging Materials, Avery Dennison has about 800 patents and applications in the UHF RFID space.
 
“UHF, HF and NFC are basically descriptors of the radio frequency in which they operate in and respond to,” says Rinehart. “That determines their functionality and usage. Avery Dennison is the largest supplier of Ultra High Frequency RFID in the world.
 
TT Sensor Plus is a platform in which the smart label can record times and temperatures. Based on the temperature readings, TT Sensor Plus will tell users if the product is still suitable for its original use, be it pharmaceuticals or food. The data is stored in a chip and can be uploaded to a smartphone anywhere throughout the supply chain.
 
“We also have DirectLink, which is an NFC RFID inlay that would be used in consumer interaction at the shelf,” explains Rinehart. “A consumer could use an NFC-enabled Android phone and get some kind of information off a package.”
 
One area where RFID has been utilized is retail apparel, where the labels and tags can be tracked. In the future, there are significant opportunities for RFID. In addition to bag tags and clothing, which have become a popular use for this inlay technology, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, and food labeling can all benefit from its use.
 
“There is an opportunity where you have higher-value items, and you’re moving products around–or you need a lot of accuracy,” explains Rinehart. “Imagine if you have a tray of pharmaceuticals and you have to replenish this tray and you’re relying on human intervention to do that. A tray might have many different medicines of different shapes and sizes, and then the pharmacy replenishes it and it goes where it needs to go. Each of the components on that tray can be labeled with an RFID inlay, and you’re taking the human element out of it.”
 
The value proposition holds true across many verticals, especially food labeling. Users would have the capability of tracking the freshness of the food, when it was packaged and whether it would be suitable to eat. The food is then capable of being tracked throughout its ecosystem.
 
UHF RFID technology is a one-to-many capability, where a user does not necessarily need to be in the product’s line of sight. “You could label or tag 25 shirts and put them all on a rack, and with a handheld reader, you could be 15 or 20 feet away and you point that reader in the direction of the rack of shirts,” adds Rinehart. “By sending out those radio frequency waves and bouncing them off that RFID technology back to the reader, you can read all 25 of those shirts at one time. Imagine the value proposition of this.”
 
Rinehart adds that RFID can be used to locate, identify and authenticate.
 
“There are converters in the narrow web space that are capable and engaged in RFID,” says Rinehart. “I think we see RFID growing outside the space where it really established itself and drove larger volumes.”
 
NFC is not considered a one-to-many technology. While still in the RFID family, NFC involves a wireless transfer of data and information. The user, however, must be closer to the product.
 
While this technology can add great value and capabilities to retail products and their packaging, they are not prevalent–yet. At a recent show, RFID Journal Live, which Rinehart terms the “Labelexpo of RFID,” experts laid out their plans for the future adoption of these smart technologies.
 
The technology has been around since the early 2000’s, but it was not as viable as it is now–and will continue to be. “Like any of these technologies, which were around 10-plus years ago, the cost of an RFID inlay was more, they were thicker, more expensive and not as smart and didn’t have as much memory capability,” says Rinehart. “Well, all of these things have progressed over the past decade, where they’re much thinner and more affordable.
 
“That was the discussion at RFID Journal Live. Is this a viable technology?” he adds. “Will it really work? Can it get pushed to more flexible and less costly components to drive more widespread adoption? Most people think the technology is proven now. We’re talking about billions of chips that are already in use in retail apparel.”
 
The deciding factor for many verticals will be return on investment. The technology works, but companies will need to find an acceptable investment point for it to make sense.
 
In 2016, Avery Dennison invested in English company PragmatIC for the chip. The goal for Avery Dennison is to lower costs, develop more flexible inlays while making sure they are less apparent. “We want people to understand that we’re a leader in this area, and we continue to see the opportunity in this area to invest,” concludes Rinehart.