Checkpoint Systems Inc., a global supplier of shrink management, merchandise visibility and apparel labeling solutions for the retail industry, has launched new RFID encoding solutions and has expanded its RFID tag portfolio for apparel brands and their retail partners, as well as closed-loop apparel retailers and department stores.

Checkpoint's growing RFID portfolio of hardware, software, tags, and service and support offerings provides further value for the increasing number of apparel retailers seeking to deploy RFID broadly throughout their operations to increase sales, reduce out-of-stocks, reduce working capital, as well as enhance loss prevention efforts and consumer experience, Per Levin, Checkpoint Systems' worldwide president, Merchandise Visibility and Apparel Labeling Solutions, said in a company press release.

"We developed these offerings specifically to meet the needs of retailers and vendors that are scaling their RFID initiatives," Levin said. "As apparel retailers increasingly adopt RFID-based solutions, they are looking for scalable, deployable, operational solution sets, and we're particularly proud to announce this world-class capability to enable their success."

RFID Encoding Solutions

Checkpoint now offers suppliers and retailers several ways in which to uniquely encode tags:

High-Speed Bulk Encoding: This solution enables the encoding at a distribution center of RFID tags applied onto multiple items in a single box at operational speed, significantly reducing the time needed to encode large quantities of merchandise.

Expanded Service Bureaus: Checkpoint now offers RFID service bureaus in Asia, Europe, Central America and North America for rapid encoding and printing.

In-Plant Printing: In some cases, apparel brands and closed-loop retailers need to manage the tagging process from remote locations that may not have reliable Internet service, inhibiting their ability to obtain EPC numbers needed to print and encode RFID on demand. Checkpoint's new In-Plant services enable companies to locally manage the complete process, including number serialization and tag printing from these sites, Levin said.

"Brand owners are looking for the flexibility to decide when, where and how they manage their item-level tagging processes across their global supply chains," Daniel Bowman, senior product line manager, Impinj, said in the release. "We're impressed with Checkpoint's leadership in bringing new solutions to brand owners and pleased that it has chosen Impinj's unique source tagging platform with STP encoding technology for high-performance bulk commissioning."

RFID Finished Tag Offerings

Checkpoint also offers a line of fully integrated RFID tags offering the branding information, tactile benefits and loss prevention benefits of existing hard tags and apparel labels, with the addition of RFID for inventory management and loss prevention. The new line includes the RFID Full-Color Graphic Tag, a custom, finished tag featuring sophisticated, full-color graphics to meet the branding needs of apparel retailers. These are high-quality graphic tags retailers are accustomed to, integrated with RFID. In addition, Checkpoint's expanded range of RFID Hard Tags delivers inventory visibility and shelf availability while leveraging the same tag for deterrence and loss prevention.

RFID Tag Inlays

Checkpoint now offers three new tags for apparel brands optimized for use on apparel merchandise: High-Kick, Whirl and Triumph. With these tags, Checkpoint delivers a broad UHF portfolio for EPC-compliant tag solutions, addressing the needs of leading apparel retailers, as well as their suppliers that are seeking certified, standards-based tags for greater visibility into merchandise location and movement and loss prevention, according to the release.

Read more about RFID technology.