Finnish RFID technology provider Rafsec has announced it will work with US company Alien Technology to produce RFID tags "at very low cost". Alien specializes in cost-reducing technology for manufacturing.
Rafsec makes the point that RFID tags have not yet achieved deep market penetration in the logistics and supply chain industries because of "the 50-cent to several-dollar price of the tags".
It says "typical tags" are still a combination of large ICs, wired or etched copper antennas, and slow manufacturing processes.
Alien's solutions will - its new Finnish partner hopes - address two key problems facing RFID manufacturers.
These are: the high cost of ICs in the tags and the limits to production capacity. It says both these difficulties stem from constraints inherent in the "pick-and-place assembly" approach used to make tags today.
If volumes are high enough, Alien says it can package small ICs at much lower costs than are currently available.
Rafsec’ s president, Timo Lindstrom, said on making the announcement: "Alien's approach to IC packaging is extremely well-suited to RFID. We are very pleased to be working with them to break the fundamental constraints that have kept costs high and limited the growth of the (RFID) industry."
For his part, Jeff Jacobsen, Alien's president and CEO said: "Rafsec shares our vision of, and commitment to, achieving very low unit costs that will allow the rapid mass adoption of these extraordinarily useful products."
Both companies have well-established interests in RFID development. During 2001, Alien acquired an RFID concern, Wave ID, while Rafsec’ s parent company, UPM-Kymmene, gained a majority interest in TDAO Limited, the developer of Rafsec’ s antenna manufacturing technology.
Rafsec and Alien Technology are both members of the Auto-ID Centre, started in 2000 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) by consumer goods and retail companies.
The AIDC is a strong global advocate of next-generation wireless identification technologies. It aims to develop network solutions and software for RFID technology and create the right conditions for the widespread use of smart labels and a notable reduction in smart label unit prices.
On hearing the announcement, Kevin Ashton executive director of the AIDC, commented: "I was asked recently if the RFID industry reminded me of the fable, the boy who cried wolf. One company after another has claimed to have a path to making RF tags for a nickel, but none has ever delivered on this promise. The thing many forget about that story is that in the end, a wolf finally does come.
"From what I have seen, Alien's electronics assembly capability may well allow it to be the wolf in the RFID story. The alliance with an innovative industry leader of Rafsec’ s high calibre would appear to increase the likelihood of that outcome."
