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Mallinckrodt Revamps Its RFID Roadmap
When Mallinckrodt announced its intentions in September to expand its product tagging at the item level, it had not yet decided whether it would begin using high-frequency (HF) tags in the pilot or stick with UHF tags. However, because Mallinckrodt has, until now, been able to read and write to the EPC Gen 1 UHF tags it places on select products, it expects the Gen 2 tags it will be using in the DC and the packaging line will provide similarly good performance.
Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline both launched RFID tagging pilots this year. The companies have chosen to use HF tags on individual bottles, with UHF tags for the cases in which the bottles are shipped. Over the past few months, debate has grown within the RFID industry over whether UHF tags can perform as well as HF tags for item-level applications. This year, ODIN Technologies subjected HF and UHF tags on the market to head-to-head tests, declaring HF the better performing frequency for item-level pharmaceutical applications (see Study Says HF Rules for Pharma Items) Within days of that report, however, Seattle-based semiconductor Impinj contributed to an RFID Journal webinar on item-level tagging in which he claimed Impinj had prototyped new UHF tag antenna designs enabling the tags to perform as well as—if not better than—HF tags, especially on products containing RF-unfriendly liquids (see Wal-Mart Seeks UHF for Item-Level).
If the Gen 2 passive UHF tags Mallinckrodt initially tests on its packaging line provide the readability and encoding speeds the auto-apply system requires, this will keep additional infrastructure costs to a minimum. The company will then be able to continue using the UHF interrogators its DC currently operates.
"When we move to the packaging line, we have to reevaluate tag performance," says Biggs. "We've not done an HF study at that stage, but going forward, we might. We have some liquid products that we will have to tag, so that is going to be a consideration with respect to the performance of the tags." It is also important that any auto-apply system Mallinckrodt deploys not significantly impact the speed at which it can package and label its product.
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Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline both launched RFID tagging pilots this year. The companies have chosen to use HF tags on individual bottles, with UHF tags for the cases in which the bottles are shipped. Over the past few months, debate has grown within the RFID industry over whether UHF tags can perform as well as HF tags for item-level applications. This year, ODIN Technologies subjected HF and UHF tags on the market to head-to-head tests, declaring HF the better performing frequency for item-level pharmaceutical applications (see Study Says HF Rules for Pharma Items) Within days of that report, however, Seattle-based semiconductor Impinj contributed to an RFID Journal webinar on item-level tagging in which he claimed Impinj had prototyped new UHF tag antenna designs enabling the tags to perform as well as—if not better than—HF tags, especially on products containing RF-unfriendly liquids (see Wal-Mart Seeks UHF for Item-Level).
If the Gen 2 passive UHF tags Mallinckrodt initially tests on its packaging line provide the readability and encoding speeds the auto-apply system requires, this will keep additional infrastructure costs to a minimum. The company will then be able to continue using the UHF interrogators its DC currently operates.
"When we move to the packaging line, we have to reevaluate tag performance," says Biggs. "We've not done an HF study at that stage, but going forward, we might. We have some liquid products that we will have to tag, so that is going to be a consideration with respect to the performance of the tags." It is also important that any auto-apply system Mallinckrodt deploys not significantly impact the speed at which it can package and label its product.
