SML furthers support for growing retail RFID market

SML claimed the volume produced last year allowed it to deliver encoded RFID tags to more than 95 percent of the retail RFID rollout projects around the world. The company has further identified the market for item-level RFID encoded tags growing at over 30 percent each year. SML is investing heavily to support this rapidly growing market. High speed encoding and converting equipment is accommodating the expansion of existing and new brands in a fast-paced fashion industry. More SKUs, lower volumes per SKU with higher overall volume and faster sew-to-store timelines are aspects which can all be achieved by the adoption of RFID, it said.

KC Lau, SML Group CEO, said: ‘SML Group recognized years ago that encoding close to the vendor was a necessity, therefore encoding solutions were built to support rapid set-up and expand to support the market demand. This strategy has since been well received by customers and differentiates us from others in the market. We expect to double our capacity every two years, as we continue to grow faster than the broader market.’

Customers are now turning to the highest performing inlays possible, SML noted, in order to support more rapid stock counts within stores and more accurate supply chain read performance.

Lau continued: ‘SML’s emphasis on expansion is not solely production related, but also embraces the area of sustainability. We develop and produce sustainable products without compromising quality, performance or speed. Inlay designs, labels and all other RFID solutions provide retailers with full coverage of the technology, including remote RFID printing solutions for garment vendor logistic centers and retail stores.’

SML currently operates the largest network of RFID tag services bureaus across the world, active in 20 countries and supporting a wide range of tag formats. This includes adhesive labels, labels on existing price tickets, integrated price tickets, integrated sew-in labels and customer designed solutions for hard to tag items across several industries.