During its recent In-Line RFID Solutions Educator Series seminar, St. Louis-based pressmaker Mark Andy reportedly became the first manufacturer to show live, 100 percent-enabled radio frequency identification (RFID) label production in one single pass. The demonstration took place at the company's Advanced Technology & Training Center in Milford, OH, on April 27 and 28. The event drew more than 300 labelmaking and converting professionals from across the US, Canada, Europe and Asia to witness the process first-hand.

The integrated process of constructing RFID-enabled labels was achieved through research and development by Mark Andy along with a group of select suppliers critical to the RFID industry, the company says. Kevin Manes, R&D manager for Mark Andy, has led the effort by developing cooperation between suppliers such as Texas Instruments (Plano, TX), SAMSys Technologies (Chicago), Tamarack Products (Wauconda, IL), Praxair Surface Technologies (Alsip, IL) and Asymtek (Carlsbad, CA).

In addition, conductive ink suppliers ANI/Acheson Colloids (Port Huron, MI), Parelec (Rocky Hill, NJ) and XINK Laboratories (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada) worked with Mark Andy to produce printed antennas using different processes. The result: Pressure-sensitive, 100-percent-enabled RFID labels from unfinished materials into finished labels ready for end-use. The seminar offered nine presentations and three live demonstrations, allowing attendees to better understand RFID-label production workflow from microchip design to label application.

In his overview of the global RFID market, Michael J. Laird, RFID research program director for Venture Development Corp. (Natick, MA), detailed the explosive growth forecasted for this hot market. Sales of RFID hardware, software and services totaled $1.75 billion last year; that figure is expected to climb to $5.93 billion in 2008. And while traditional closed-loop applications such as toll collection and security/access control continue to dominate the current market, consumer goods' share of the global RFID field is predicted to grow from 3 percent in 2004 to 22.5 percent in 2008, Laird says.

In the first of the seminar's demonstrations, an eight-color, 13-in. Mark Andy 2200 flexographic press produced RFID labels using Texas Instruments ultra-high-frequency (UHF) inlays, which were inserted into full-color labels using a Tamarack P500 module. Water-based inks were used for the four-color process graphics, and a six-bar Virtual AC static eliminator from ION Industrial (Windsor Locks, CT) helped protect the delicate chip-inlay from damage. After diecutting, the labels were verified via SAMsys 9310 multiprotocol readers from a distance of up to about 22 ft.

A second demonstration showed the printing of RFID antennae. Using a Comco ProGlide MSP press, antenna patterns were produced via both Parelec Parmod® VLT conductive rotary-screen inks and ANI UV-flexo inks (Plymouth, MN). The Parmod inks—reactive metal organic materials with silver flakes—require only a 3- to 4-micron-thick layer for a sufficient UHF antenna.

In the main demonstration, the Mark Andy 2200 press first printed the four-color process graphics, then printed an antenna on the reverse side of the label face stock using XINK water-based, conductive flexo ink. The Tamarack P500 module placed Texas Instruments EPC Gen II read/write chip straps onto the antennae to create fully functional RFID inlays in-line. Bonding tape and conductive adhesive from Emerson & Cuming (Billerica, MA) held the inlay secure prior to hot-melt, p-s coating of adhesive by an ITW Dynatec unit (Hendersonville, TN) onto a release liner, which was finally laminated to the printed label.

About 35 converters around the world are now manufacturing "smart labels," Mark Andy says. Current inlay-insertion speeds of 500 fpm are possible with the Tamarack P500 module, and read speeds for verification units can reach 300 fpm, says Tamarack president David Steidinger. Rolls holding about 15,000 inlays each are available, allowing 30 mins of production.

Only prototype Gen II chip-strap samples are offered now, says Texas Instruments. Production quantities are expected to be available in the third quarter of 2005.