Supplies News: All-surface RFID tags and printing solution

Now available from Zebra is the first integrated solution to support applications that require UHF RFID tags on metal surfaces.

In the past, RFID read performance has deteriorated significantly when an RFID tag was applied on a metal surface. Confidex, a leading supplier of high performance RFID tags, has addressed this problem by developing the Silverline family of all-surface RFID tags. Silverline tags are designed to work on a variety of surfaces including liquid bottles and metallic cylinders. Previously these presented difficulties for RFID application tagging.

Zebra now has exclusive global** rights to sell Confidex Silverline labels. Effective from 25 February 2016, all Silverline label leads and orders will be forwarded by Confidex to Zebra and all orders for Silverline labels will be fulfilled by Zebra. (** China and Japan are not exclusive.)

Specially modified RFID ZT410 printer
All-surface tags are typically thicker than traditional RFID tags which makes them difficult to print and encode in a standard thermal RFID bar code printer. Zebra has applied their extensive knowledge of printer design to develop a custom version of the ZT410 RFID printer that solves this problem. The custom Silverline RFID ZT410 printer is specially modified to successfully print and encode Silverline tags.

This combination of a specially designed Zebra printer and Silverline tags allows companies to experience the benefits of RFID tracking on a much broader group of items. When combined with Zebra’s RFID reader portfolio, the launch of Silverline will enable complete Zebra RFID solutions for the most critical enterprise assets. Healthcare providers can now accurately track items including wheelchairs, beds, oxygen canisters, IV pumps and medical diagnostic instruments. Within manufacturing applications, the technology enables tagging of items such as: tools, fixtures, metal parts and returnable containers. These tags can also be used in IT asset tagging of laptops, servers and tablets.

The table below shows the part numbers and descriptions for the Silverline labels. These items will be stocked in the UK with a minimum order quantity of 1 roll per box (RL/Box).