If you can’t tag it, you can’t read it

Eric Heineman - Director of Business Development
In April of this year, I attended RFID Journal LIVE as I have for the past several years. I always enjoy the show because it’s a great forum for “players” in the industry to catch up with each other, see the latest products, learn about the new wins and applications, and to catch up with friends.

I’ve been involved in the RFID industry since 2005. That may not seem like a long time, but for a perspective to those reading this, it was “pre-Gen 2”. My involvement has been mostly within UHF tag technology, so naturally I take a keen interest in seeing the new tag products introduced every year at the show. For those of you who have worked with me over the years, I’ve always said that “If you can’t tag it, you can’t read it”, and as simplistic as that may sound, it means that every successful application starts with the right tag. This couldn’t be truer than in the case of durable tags… the ultimate “enabler” for the tough, environmentally-unfriendly applications. Whether it’s a $0.15 smart label in a slap and ship application, or an $8.00 ruggedized tag used to track intermodal chassis in a yard management application, it all starts with the item needing to be tracked and the availability of the right tag for the job.

At the risk of sounding like an “old-timer”, I can tell you that it wasn’t always so easy to find the right tag for the job, and there were many instances in my career where an entirely new tag needed to be developed to satisfy requirements of environmental durability, form factor, attachment method, and read performance, usually involving an NRE, a minimum volume commitment, and proof-of-concept. Although this is still a requirement in the most unique applications today, it’s now the exception to the rule with so many new tag products available in the market. I’m glad to see this, because it means that it’s much easier to deploy an RFID solution with standard products at a reasonable cost to the end-user, in a shorter period of time.

However, back to the RFID Journal LIVE show…

As I was walking the exhibit floor this year, there was one booth I came across that seemed more crowded than the others. It was a new tag company called XERAFY, and as I’ve learned since, the “X” has a “Z” sound, like Xerox. The first thing I noticed about the tags in the booth, was that they were not in a static display, but actually attached in a way that they might actually be attached in the real world… on a wrench, embedded in the head of a bolt, and on metal items that you would see every day in a manufacturing or production environment. One thing that really interested me was that, although these tags were rugged (and some VERY small), they could be attached “flush” with the metal surface, meaning that the issues of frontal and sheer impact were no longer a problem when attached to tools and other items that get dropped, bumped, and otherwise punished in ways that present a problem with many traditional adhesive-attached tags. Because of these unique tags, I knew that Xerafy was on to something good here. There was now an elegant solution for hand tools, electric tools, pipes, drill bits, engine blocks, and many, many other items where surface-attachment could be an issue. I liked Xerafy’s products, their people, and especially the enthusiasm surrounding the booth… and knew that I wanted to be a part of it!

Now, I’m the Director of Business Development for XERAFY, and look forward to sharing my enthusiasm about these great products with you… so give me a call at 301.641.7408 or e-mail me at eheineman@xerafy.com. I’m looking forward to hearing from you.