July 17, 2008 – Avery Dennison’s RFID VP and GM, Bob Cornick, has the solution. He just wishes buyers would focus on their five biggest problems.

Avery Dennison has had a solid presence within the RFID market, having been involved in it for such a long time and having so many different products. Where do you stand now?

CORNICK: We serve several vertical markets that are deep in RFID, like the supply chain, aviation, and the bag tag markets. In addition, we serve a variety of smaller asset tracking marketplaces that require very special tags.

Selling inlays to converters--that is your RFID product, correct?

CORNICK: Yes. We assemble the transponder, and we sell them to converters who finish them by putting them into a form that end users dictate.

What kind of relationship does Avery have with the end user, since you are also working with the label converter, if not with the system integrator?

CORNICK: We are very deeply involved at the end user level. We can add a lot of value in terms of discussing what kind of readers to use and what kind of tags to apply. We can also assist the converter or the SI by doing experiments with the RFID experts when it comes to transponders and readers. We do it all to that point, but direct the end user to give the P.O. to our channel partner.

About how many different inlays do you offer currently?

CORNICK: Our number changes all the time, but the basic families number about six to eight and they are variances within that.

A family obviously would have, as you say, different variations.

CORNICK: Between five and ten.

So that could be thirty or fifty or eighty different versions. Since you have that many, how often do you find it necessary to actually customize something?

CORNICK: That is the beauty of the rather large bank. We can usually find a tag that we have produced before that hits the bulls-eye for a given application. If that is not the case, we get another variance.

What stage in the process is your team usually contacted, and by whom?

CORNICK: Ideally we contacted by an end user who knows the Avery Dennison brand and looks to us for some expert advice early in their project. Sometimes, we get involved when there are problems. Other times, we are called in either by the end users or by their vendors to assist, and we also enjoy doing that work. It is easier if you are involved upfront.

If you are called by an end user and they don’t yet have a vendor, is the next step to bring in one of your partners?

CORNICK: We usually ask them who serves them in terms of label conversion, and if they have a favorite partner. They are likely to be one of Avery Dennison’s partners. Then we bring them in. If they don’t (have a favorite), we recommend one that is in the neighborhood or has done things that are very similar to what the end user needs.

I am sure there are a wide variety of end user/buyers, some who are looking for as few as a few hundred labels and some who are looking for a million or more labels. Is there minimum?

CORNICK: I am fond of saying that if the market ultimately isn’t a hundred million tags, it is less interesting to us. But, we also look at other factors. Many of the large pieces of business we are serving today started with a thousand tags.

If we knew that a tag design was going to be for two hundred tags and that was it forever, there are firms that are set up to do that and we generally would refer to those. But, we often take two hundred tag orders because we know they can turn into multi-millions.

Are there any questions that you are asked routinely that show some lack of understanding on the part of the end users out there?

CORNICK: One thing is focus on the price of the tag. I think we, as an industry, have trained the consumers to ask the question about tag price; but often it is the first question they ask, when it should probably be the third or fourth question.

More importantly is what problem can be solved and what is the value in solving it? Sometimes we ask what if the tag were free, what would you do with it?

What if instead of price, they had a question about what to do about tags in general? What would you advise in those cases?

CORNICK: This happens less and less actually. The supply chain initiative in 2003 was one of compliance. You simply need to put tags on in these cases. You could do more with it if you wished but, you fundamentally had to comply. And that puts the focus clearly on how to minimize costs.

It is happening less and less, but it still happens some. It is unfortunate because a lot of great applications fall down when someone runs the calculator on ten cents a label, or fifteen cents a label, times ten million and says, well, “That is expensive.”

Is there any advice you might give someone reading this who perhaps has not yet implemented any RFID at all, but is considering it?

CORNICK: Focus on the problem you are trying to solve. Fundamentally, RFID is an auto ID technology that is very fast and doesn’t require line of sight like other barcodes and 2-D codes.

What are your five biggest problems? Are they addressable by enhancement of your auto ID technology and would your procedures be enhanced by not having to have one site at a time, or if you could process information reads very quickly? If the answer to those two questions is yes, RFID is for you.