- Goodwin Inc. has engineered a method for tagging bottled liquids for automotive and cleaning product companies, with specialized labels from Phenix Labeling.
- The company offers RFID labels and application methods uniquely intended for high performance around liquid.
As retailers like Walmart mandate suppliers to apply RFID tags on goods, the challenge for some liquid product companies can be a matter of physics. RFID technology has been widely used for tracking merchandise like apparel and footwear for years.
For brands whose product is a bottle of cleaner or motor oil, RFID technology use is more challenging.
Companies that apply RFID tags need to ensure that they are readable by the retailer. And liquids, as well as metal, can reflect or absorb RF transmissions. Chemical contractor filling and packaging company Goodwin Inc. is providing a solution through several different tagging options, and a partnership with Phenix Label. The goal is to provide an RFID enabled package of liquids that meets Walmart or other retailers’ performance requirements.
Creating New Labels and Application Methods
For a full century, Goodwin has provided bottling services. Its customers predominantly make liquid chemicals such as automotive care produces and household cleaners. Additionally, the company also applies labels to the bottles it fills and seals.
Now with RFID mandates coming from retailers, they’re helping their customers meet those RFID mandates, said Eddie Varela, Goodwin’s quality assurance manager.
With sites in Georgia and California, Goodwin specializes in high-speed liquid filling and blending, filling bottles at a rate of 70 per minute, on average. They are among the first manufacturers to successfully produce an RFID-applied liquid chemical label application for retail with Phenix Label’s patent-pending recyclable UHF RFID tag design.
Auburn Approval
The tag design has received approval from Auburn University’s RFID Lab which works with Walmart to test and approve RFID tags for performance and quality.
While Phenix is providing the RFID enabled labels, Goodwin has been working with the company as well to ensure the right label, properly attached, provides reliable RF performance. The two companies’ partnership, said Varela, “exemplifies a synergistic approach to driving industry progress and pursuing technological and application advancements.”
Goodwin is now providing RFID-enabled labels to its customers in several formats, including extended flags or hang tags, along with proper placement at the non-liquid portion of the product.
Peel Label with Separation from Bottle
Phenix engineered a process in which it automatically applies a UHF RFID chip and antenna to the inner layer of a product label, then runs the label—with embedded RFID technology—through a printer.
That results in a specialized label with multiple layers and a perforated edge, similar to coupons, that are attached to the fronts of packaging and separates the RFID antenna from the liquid in the product container.
Goodwin offers another method to ensure RFID tags can be read on a bottle of liquid related to tag placement. The company can apply the sticker label above the liquid line of the product, typically on the top inch of the bottle.
Tagging Above the Fill Line
This process requires a very precise fill level, to ensure that liquid does not reach the point at which the tag is attached. Not all companies can maintain a fill level that is reliable enough for this method, however.
Because Goodwin serves a clientele that sells high value products (cleaners and automotive as opposed to beverages), the bottling company has already engineered its service to never overpour product into a bottle.
“We make formulas that are very expensive, and we cannot afford spillage,” Varela said. “So our equipment is able to maintain the fill level consistently.”
Future May Include RFID Caps
A third strategy for liquid products would include the cap. A small RFID antenna and chip, attached to the top of the bottle cap, could transmit without interference from liquid. That method, however, has not yet been approved by Auburn Labs.
The tag would be relatively smaller than standard tags being used for item-level retail identification—about a 16th of an inch, square. That could mean a shorter read range.
Goodwin is still in conversation with Auburn’s RFID Lab regarding this RFID tagging method.
Read with Handheld Readers
When Goodwin receives RFID labels for its customers’ products, it first tests them with handheld readers to confirm tag readability. They typically come as a roll of labels, often 3,500 at a time.
Once the tags are applied to the bottled product, Goodwin provides a subsequent tag read, before shipping the product back to its customer. That brand then forwards the product to Walmart.
Typically, Walmart could then read the tags on the products as they are received, stored or shelved for sale, providing an automated inventory record and preventing out of stock events, as well as improving efficiency.
Working with Walmart
Varela predicts that, although most brands are only applying RFID technology to products destined for Walmart, that may change. Other retailers are likely to issue their own mandates in the coming months and years.
Until then, he pointed out, “[RFID] is an added cost for the special label and handling,” so it is more cost-effective to separate out the RFID-enabled products for Walmart and use standard paper labels for other retailers.
Knowing the demand from Walmart and potentially other retailers ahead, Varela said the company has chosen to be a source for upgrading labels. “Goodwin is a leading company in both the experimentation and application of the RFID labels within liquid-fill products,” he said.