Multi-million unit order launches RFID label alliance

Following a strategic alliance with the R&V Group - a newly-formed company dedicated to the production of RFID labeling solutions - Omron Electronics has received a multi-million unit initial order for Class 1 EPC compatible RFID inlays. The announcement came at the Smart Labels Summit which took place in Baltimore.
The two companies have joined forces to offer RFID labeling to companies facing required use of EPC-compliant RFID labeling in supply chain and retail environments. Under the terms of the new alliance, Omron will be R and V's preferred supplier of inlays, and R and V will be Omron's preferred smart label converter.
‘This initial order from R and V for Generation 1 EPC-compliant inlays is already being filled,’ says Bill Arnold, Omron's partner business manager. ‘We are offering high quality Class 1, 96 bit product now, and we expect to be supplying Generation 2 inlays by the 4th quarter of this year.’ The company has not revealed the name of the end user.

 The R and V Group was formed late last year by Top Flight, Inc., a leading manufacturer of school and office products, and Steven Van Fleet, a recognized expert in RFID applications. The new company has invested heavily in leading edge equipment that manufactures smart labels embedded with RFID transponders, and provides automated RFID label quality control services and RFID tag encoding.

’The RFID market is a projected billion dollar industry,’ says Van Fleet, ‘but the demand for RFID enabled labels will exceed the qualified supply and the RFID marketplace continues to be adversely impacted by poor quality control of incoming RFID inlays. Our new alliance with Omron is intended to meet both of those needs.’