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RFID technology achieves the purpose of simplifying the process and improving efficiency by automatically identifying assets and collecting data, providing accurate and real-time information for production and management. RFID has irreplaceable value in asset tracking, management and maintenance. Many fields already have relatively mature RFID applications. In recent years, with the continuous innovation of RFID technology, more applications have been realized, and the tracking function of RFID is expanding to More and more asset types. More and more assets can be tracked and managed by installing tags, and the value of RFID technology and solutions is also increasing.
At present, the number of types of assets that can be applied to RFID is rising rapidly, all of which benefit from the continuous innovation of RFID technology, especially the birth of smart labels suitable for metal environments. This kind of label is suitable for almost all assets due to its flexible size and performance, and allows users to perform composite printing on the label again, so that the label has multiple functions of RFID identification and manual visualization.
This white paper takes Xerafy’s revolutionary product Metal Skin series as an example, and focuses on the current leading market applications for metal flexible labels. The Metal Skin series has created a new asset tracking model in history with its thin and compact size.
Innovation redefines asset tracking methods
RFID continues to develop and innovate in the application of various business processes and relationships in the supply chain system. Current application requirements focus on asset management, process tracking control, product certification, product tracking, high temperature and high pressure disinfection process management, asset inspection and maintenance, etc. . However, these applications have always had application barriers that are difficult to overcome. For example, RFID tags are unavailable to metal environments, and signals will be interfered or shielded. These problems make asset equipment in metal environments unable to enjoy the benefits of RFID.
Although there are many tags that can be used in metal environments on the market, in addition to metal surfaces, metal-embedded RFID technology has also appeared. The birth of metal tags solves the problem of a large number of metal assets using RFID technology, and at the same time extends RFID to a wider range of fields, such as aerospace, medical and health, oil and gas development, data and cloud computing centers.
However, there are still many application difficulties and technical obstacles in these fields. The design principle of most metal tags is to separate the distance between the metal and the antenna, and to prevent the antenna from being interfered by the metal by creating a certain gap. This design makes the label must have a certain thickness, and the texture is hard. Hard labels cannot be used on curved assets or small assets, and are expensive and poor in flexibility.
The metal flexible label Titanium Metal Skin from Xerafy, with its extremely light, thin, soft, and compact shape, breaks through the picky requirements of metal assets for label size performance. It can be affixed to curved assets and is more than traditional identification methods such as QR codes. Durable performance, and more importantly, dry inlay can achieve customized customer needs through composite printing.
The size of Titanium Metal Skin is 45×5.6×0.86mm, which can realize more flexible functions through label composite printing or embedding with other labels. Users can enjoy the multiple functions and easy-to-use features after the label is compounded. This kind of label can be made into customized products according to different application fields by label compounders, system integrators, and value-added distributors. Its easy-to-use feature is highly adaptable to assets no matter what packaging method is used.
The following content will describe in detail how to use Metal Skin series products for asset tracking management in various fields.
Applications
Metal labels have related applications in all vertical areas of the enterprise, such as real-time asset tracking, management of work-in-progress and inventory, product certification, and supply chain system management. But what users ultimately need is a label that is standard, small in size, can be composite printed again, and is easy to use. Such a label is more conducive to recovering the return on investment. The following applications have better prospects:
IT asset tracking: Flexible metal tags have both low cost and high performance, meeting the IT industry’s requirements for using RFID to manage internal assets (servers and desktop computers, etc.) and handheld mobile terminals (such as tablets, smartphones, laptops, etc.) . Because the tags are thin and compact, they allow users to track smaller assets. The price of tags is low, and users can install tags on assets such as servers and notebooks before they are manufactured, so as to realize the automated management of the asset’s full life cycle and improve the high standards of industry management.
A school in Texas, USA is using flexible metal tags to track school assets such as notebooks, tablets, and electronic whiteboards. By applying RFID, it is easier for schools to count the number of assets, manage inventory, and increase the utilization rate of assets. Because this solution can record asset usage information, it helps schools reduce the labor cost for asset inventory inspection.
Flexible metal tags allow companies to easily install (or remove) their own assets. For many situations that require employees to use personal assets and company assets at the same time, flexible tags will provide managers with convenient and accurate asset management methods.
A certain European airline started to provide iPads for passengers on long-distance flights, and also used Titanium Metal Skin flexible tags for management convenience. At the end of the flight, flight attendants can quickly check the use and return of all equipment through the information recorded on the tag. They only need to scan the tag attached to the iPad with a reader to obtain the information in a few seconds. Busy work saves a lot of time.
Medical industry: Medical institutions have always been troubled by how to safely manage equipment and equipment, ranging from wheelchairs and IV pumps to scalpels. How to ensure that these devices are used correctly and thoroughly disinfected is one of the most concerned issues for hospitals and patients . Therefore, the medical industry has used identification technology for a long time, including barcodes, component identification, RFID and RTLS/Wi-Fi solutions.
When the tag can be used in both metal and non-metal environments, this RFID-based solution will greatly simplify the management of a series of assets, and unify and standardize management. While improving the visibility of asset management information, it also simplifies the complex steps of deploying tags on assets. The flexible label can record the date of sterilization, calibration, surgical delivery and use of each medical equipment or surgical instrument, so that different medical staff can view the required information at any time, which is convenient for hospital management and improves the safety of patients.
Tracking of gas cylinders, cylinders and cylinders: In the industrial field, liquids and gases are basically cylindrical metal containers. In the past, the installation of tags for irregular assets has always been a major problem in the RFID industry. An outstanding feature of flexible labels is that they can be bent to fit on curved assets, which perfectly solves this technical shackle.
Flexible labels can be used not only on metals, but also on curved assets. They are more durable and reliable than ordinary QR codes. Such labels have a positive effect on improving enterprise inventory management, simplifying business processes, and tracking work-in-progress. At the same time, the ability of the label to be compositely printed prevents it from the defect of not being able to realize visual information.
Industrial product certification: Product manufacturers can install tags on various mechanical equipment and tools used in production and track them in real time. However, traditional RFID tags are bulky and expensive, and are not suitable for assets with small size or irregular shapes. Although two-dimensional code labels are cheap, they cannot withstand the harsh application environment of the industrial field. Therefore, the metal flexible labels with both performance, size and economic price help enterprises to achieve the installation requirements of almost all types of assets.
General type of asset tracking: Since metal flexible tags can be used to track and manage metal and non-metal assets, the types of assets it can be applied to have become quite extensive, replacing the management methods that use several special types of tags. In the past, the way of using QR codes to manage assets can also be replaced by flexible labels, making the entire management method more efficient.
Let’s introduce an application from South Africa. The fire department uses Xerafy’s Mercury Metal Skin to track fire-fighting facilities such as fire hydrants, with more than 800 assets. This solution provides functions such as asset inventory management, weekday maintenance, and safety inspections. The software system of the solution is provided by RFIQ company, using Alien Technology’s ALR-9000-EMA handheld reader. Through the application of RFID technology, the staff can directly obtain the information of each type of fire protection facility by reading the tags, and the entire software system will analyze and evaluate the collected information to provide a more targeted solution.
The purpose of the asset identification function and asset ownership authentication function of RFID tags is to help companies efficiently manage assets in a low-cost manner. RFID tags can achieve item-level tracking, provide usage information and maintenance information for each asset, and help companies quickly inventory inventory.
Product anti-counterfeiting: How to prevent product counterfeiting has become an important challenge facing manufacturers after economic globalization. According to data from the ICC (International Chamber of Commerce), product counterfeiting and infringement have an annual impact of approximately US$ 775 billion on the global economy and society, and cause the loss of 2.5 million jobs. Therefore, product anti-counterfeiting needs to improve the traceability of product information at the source. RFID is increasingly used in product anti-counterfeiting and anti-smuggling by virtue of its tracking function.
Metal flexible tags can be used to track small, difficult-to-track but high-value products, such as consumer electronics, medicines and cosmetics. By installing tags on these assets, every subject in the supply chain can authenticate and inspect them. The production scale and economic price of metal flexible labels are very suitable for consumer products with the same huge output. It also helps customers recover the return on investment of RFID projects more quickly.
Titanium Metal Skin creates new opportunities for asset tracking
Titanium Metal Skin has a number of patented technologies. It is suitable for both metal and non-metal environments. Its performance satisfies most asset types, and its soft and compact characteristics meet the needs of assets that are demanding of label size. Therefore Titanium Metal Skin will definitely Bring more application possibilities in the field of asset tracking, such as smartphones, tablets, or larger barrels and other transportation containers.
Titanium Metal Skin is currently the thinnest and smallest metal flexible label on the market, measuring only 45 x 5.6 x 0.86 mm. It is made of PET substrate through label composite printing or coding, which can be directly attached to the metal surface for use. Titanium Metal Skin has an operating temperature of 40°C to +85°C, has 128 bits for memory, and complies with ISO-18000-6 and GS1 EPCglobal Gen2 standards.
The Metal Skin series currently includes two products with different sizes, namely Mercury Metal Skin and Titanium Metal Skin. This series of products are suitable for almost all types of metal assets, ranging from beer barrels, fire extinguishers, to tablets and smartphones, by virtue of their completely different characteristics from hard anti-metal tags. Metal Skin can do a good job in high-value asset tracking and anti-counterfeiting certification. There is currently no comparable product on the market. The Metal Skin series can be compositely packaged into flexible labels of different sizes and with different functions through standard label printers.
in conclusion
The Metal Skin flexible metal label fills the gap that a type of asset cannot be installed with a hard label, greatly expands the industrial space of metal asset management, and realizes high-performance and low-cost asset management for more assets that are already critical of RFID technology. solution. Metal Skin allows users to use standard label printing composite technology according to their individual needs, and encapsulate flexible labels again, so that it has more asset identification and traceability functions, and end users can better utilize these functions to cross-organize assets Management control, so as to achieve the purpose of reducing costs and recovering the return on investment.
In particular, Titanium Metal Skin can almost meet the installation requirements of all types of assets by virtue of its compact and thin shape. Its unparalleled performance and size ratio will bring huge scale applications in medical equipment, industrial manufacturing, database management and supply chain systems. .
About Xerafy
Xerafy provides customers with cost-effective asset tracking RFID applications in a variety of harsh production environments with innovative technologies and products. Our anti-metal RFID tags can be embedded in assets, providing a wide range of intelligent asset management solutions for aerospace, industrial production, database management, medical and health, energy development and other industries. Xerafy is headquartered in Hong Kong, China, with sales and support offices in Texas and Minnesota, the United Kingdom, and Shanghai, China. Please visit www.xerafy.com for more product and application information.
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