Philips Semiconductors and Omron form alliance in smart label technology

Citation

(2000), "Philips Semiconductors and Omron form alliance in smart label technology", Assembly Automation, Vol. 20 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/aa.2000.03320aab.006

Philips Semiconductors and Omron form alliance in smart label technology

Philips Semiconductors and Omron form alliance in smart label technology

Keywords: Technology, Semiconductors

Omron Corporation and Philips Semiconductors announce their co-operation in the emerging field of smart label technology. Under their agreement, Philips Semiconductors will supply Omron with I.CODE ICs for smart labels, and Omron is developing a comprehensive range of 136MHz readers and transponders, suitable for use in all of the emerging smart label market sectors, including airline passenger baggage, parcel services, libraries, and retail logistics.

Omron, already a strong player in the business of airport automation, is now able to offer the airline industry RFID sortation tunnel readers, suitable for installation into existing tilt tray and conveyor-based airport baggage handling systems. As members of the IATA Registered Suppliers Programme, both Omron and Philips have recently conducted equipment testing for smart label baggage tagging, showing the suitability of I.CODE in this application. The testing of Omron's latest I.CODE 13.56MHz sortation tunnel reader, and their new disposable transponder, was conducted by British Airways at a test facility belonging to Crisplant a/s of Aarhus, Denmark. Mike Street, British Airways' Director of Customer Service and Operations, said: "These high tech smart labels have the potential to speed up sorting, transfer and delivery of bags and that means a better service for our customers".

Furthermore, Omron is currently trialling I.CODE equipment in retail supply chain management and express parcel service applications.

Smart labels are radio frequency transponders that are thin enough to be laminated between layers of paper or plastic to produce low-cost, consumable labels. This new technology contains read/write memory to store information related to the product, manufacturer, or logistics process. Smart labels can be simultaneously operated by read/write devices at a rate of more than 30 labels per second and, unlike barcodes, they do not require a direct line-of-sight between the reader and (see Plate 1).

Steve Coffey, business development manager for Omron, commented: "Philips Semiconductors' I.CODE chip technology is a perfect fit to our open systems strategy. Philips' overall competencies in identification components and its track record in creating open system platforms make them stand out as a chip supplier and a good partner to develop a comprehensive range of 13.56MHz readers and transponders".

Plate 1Omron's smart labels are radio frequency transponders that are thin enough to be mainated between layers of paper or plastic to produce low-cost, consumable labels. They contain read/write memory to store information related to the product, manufacturer or logistics process and, unlike barcodes, do not require direct line of sight to be read

Christoph Kauer, product line manager at Philips Semiconductors, adds: "We are extremely pleased by Omron's commitment to I.CODE. The partnership of Omron as a leading global automation system supplier and Philips Semiconductors as a market leader in RFID components builds a strong alliance to provide RFID solutions on a worldwide basis".

Omron Corporation is a Kyoto, Japan-headquartered US$5.5 billion global leader in the field of automation. Established in 1993, today more than 23,000 employees in more than 35 countries around the world work to provide customers in the industrial automation, service automation, health-care automation and information processing fields with high-quality components, systems, service and support.

Philips Semiconductors, a division of Royal Philips Electronics, headquartered in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, is the eighth largest semiconductor supplier in the world and the third largest supplier of discretes in the world. Philips Semiconductors is a world leader in automatic identification components, setting the pace with leading innovations like radio frequency identification and smart card ICs. Philips Semiconductors' innovations in digital audio, video, and mobile technology position the company as a leader in the consumer, multimedia and wireless communications markets. Sales offices are located in all major markets around the world and are supported by systems laboratories.

For further information: Media Relations Department, Philips Semiconductors, Eindhoven, The Netherlands. Fax: +31 40 2722079; E-mail: Marijke.Sas@ehv.sc.philips.com; Marketing Department, Omron Electronics, London, UK. Fax: +44 (0) 181 450 8087; E-mail: mandy_smith@eu.omron.com