Mühlbauer and Pragmatic announce strategic partnership delivering innovative RFID manufacturing solutions
Mühlbauer has qualified assembly of Pragmatic’s unique FlexICs with their market leading inlay production system, paving the way to dramatic RFID cost reduction
Mühlbauer, the proven technology supplier of RFID and smart label production and personalisation solutions, and PragmatIC, a pioneer in ultra-low cost flexible electronics, are pleased to announce their strategic partnership to deliver solutions that support the integration of PragmatIC’s unique flexible integrated circuits (FlexICs).
The companies have been working together since 2018 building on Mühlbauer’s extensive experience in inlay assembly to develop practical solutions for high speed bonding of FlexICs. The TAL15000 is the industry benchmark system for flip-chip RFID inlay production, with a throughput of up to 13,000 inlays per hour and a global installed base of more than 300 machines.
PragmatIC recently announced its first ConnectIC® products focused on HF-RFID for smart packaging applications including brand authentication and grey market avoidance. The qualification of the TAL15000 for FlexIC assembly enables manufacturers to leverage their existing installed base to deliver dramatically lower cost RFID inlays. Coupled with the incredibly thin, flexible and robust nature of FlexICs, this unlocks the potential to extend RFID solutions into a much wider range of mass market opportunities.
“Mühlbauer is focused on being the proven technology partner for the RFID industry” commented Gerald Niklas, Business Development Manager Automation at Mühlbauer. “We see PragmatIC’s innovative FlexICs as a key enabler for the adoption of RFID in mass market applications and we look forward to continuing our collaboration to deliver robust and durable RFID products at a fraction of current inlay costs.”
“We are very excited that Mühlbauer has qualified their TAL15000 system for high speed bonding of our FlexICs” said Scott White, CEO of PragmatIC. “Their extensive knowledge and customer base will accelerate the adoption of our novel technology.”
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About PragmatIC
PragmatIC is a world leader in ultra-low cost flexible electronics, enabling the potential for trillions of smart objects that can engage with consumers and their environments. Its unique technology platform delivers flexible integrated circuits (FlexICs) that are thinner than a human hair and can be easily embedded in any surface. PragmatIC’s solutions provide the opportunity to add new functionality to items, as well as extending proven applications such as RFID and NFC into mass-market use cases that were previously prohibited by the cost of traditional silicon ICs. PragmatIC’s novel, differentiated products are being adopted by a growing base of global companies across diverse markets, including consumer goods, games, retail, pharmaceutical and security sectors.
PragmatIC is headquartered in Cambridge, UK, with a new billion-unit production facility in Sedgefield, UK. Shareholders include Cambridge Innovation Capital, ARM and Avery Dennison.
For more information please contact pr@pragmaticsemi.com
About Mühlbauer
Founded in 1981, the Mühlbauer Group has grown to a proven one-stop-shop technology partner for the smart card, ePassport, RFID and solar panel industries. Further business fields are the areas of micro-chip die sorting, carrier tape equipment, as well as automation, marking and traceability systems.
Mühlbauer is the world’s market leader in innovative equipment and software solutions with 35 production and service facilities on five continents, including technology centres in Germany, Malaysia, China, Slovakia, U.S. and Serbia. A global sales and service network supports customers in project planning, technology transfer and production ramp up.
For more information please contact Lara.Schmaus@muehlbauer.de