The use of straps for RFID applications can provide the flexibility needed for different label requirements.

By Prashant Upreti and Tony Sabetti

In the mid-1990s, flexible two-dimensional radio-frequency identification (RFID) inlays were introduced by Texas Instruments (TI) to label converting companies as the basis for manufacturing smart labels. Today, smart labels are used to track products in the supply chains of the world’s largest retailers and pharmaceutical manufacturers. Wal-Mart, Target, Tesco, and numerous other companies in North America and Europe, as well as the U.S. Department of Defense, are all in the process of changing over their distribution and supply operations to include RFID.