LEXMARK NOW TRACKS TONERS WITH RADIO WAVES

[Anonymous]

http://www.internet-ink.co.uk/ink-news/Press-Release/Lexmark-Integrates-RFID-Solution-With-Toner-Cartridge-Based-Laser-Printer-1893
LEXMARK NOW TRACKS TONERS WITH RADIO WAVES
Lexmark Integrates RFID Solution With Toner Cartridge Based Laser Printer
Lexmark
has unveiled a new monochrome laser printer with toner cartridges that
also has built-in Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology.The
device, which is being marketed as a solution to help manufacturing
businesses track and tag their assets, can print RFID labels that
provide real-time visibility, as well as regular office documents.

Designed
as an add-on accessory, the RFID option replaces a drawer on the
Lexmark T654 monochrome laser printer, which uses toner
cartridges.”Lexmark’s newest RFID solution is leading-edge technology
that helps our customers in key vertical markets, such as manufacturing
and healthcare, to reduce errors and streamline processes,” said Marty
Canning, vice-president of the company.”In addition, customers can also
use the device to print and manage their everyday business documents,
eliminating the need for and costs associated with operating multiple,
single-use devices.”Meanwhile, IT Pro has praised the C736dn office
laser printer for the large capacity of its toner cartridges.

http://www.kentucky.com/101/story/915612.html
Lexmark expands radio frequency ID business, sees growth opportunities
Aiming
to take a larger piece of an expanding market, Lexmark International
recently introduced a new generation of its RFID, or radio frequency
identification, printing device.While most often associated with
package tracking and inventory management, RFID is becoming a key
technology in many areas as it has evolved rapidly over the last
decade. It does everything from operating keyless entry devices on
vehicles to helping law offices keep track of files.

RFID uses
what’s called tags that include an integrated circuit and antenna that
can broadcast their locations. Unlike most products that contain
barcodes, each RFID tag has a unique serial number, allowing people to
find that exact item. And because it broadcasts a frequency, the tags
don’t have to be viewed in a direct line of sight like is required for
extracting data from a bar code with a scanner.

RFID reading
devices pick up the frequencies when tags are nearby and then send that
unique data to data management systems. For instance, a pallet full of
goods that enters, say, a Wal-Mart distribution center has an RFID tag
that updates an inventory system to let workers know those goods are in
that location.That type of inventory management is what RFID has become
known for, but it has far more applications, Lexmark developers say,
and that’s what the company is aiming for with its newest offering.”The
big boom has yet to come” in the market for RFID, said Eric Calvert,
Lexmark’s worldwide product marketing manager.

Lexmark’s entry
Lexmark’s
new RFID printing option is the third such solution from the company
for the market.In 2007, it introduced a standalone RFID printer. A year
later, it released an RFID option that is effectively a sealed paper
tray with all the technology inside that could just be added to the
T64x family of printers.

In late July, the company released a
new tray that can be added to the T654 family.The new RFID tray option
also expanded the possibilities for customers. It now allows customers
to position tags both horizontally and vertically instead of just one
of the two.”We pretty much opened up the entire page in terms of the
real estate on the page,” Calvert said.The special RFID paper travels
through that tray and the tag is programmed while everything else is
printed.”It all happens in milliseconds,” said Rick Kallop, a senior
industry consultant at Lexmark and RFID business development manager.
“It never stops as it feeds through.”

RFID printing has long
been the dominion of thermal printers, which use heat and special
paper, as opposed to laser printers and toner.The thermals often print
shipping labels with RFID tags. It’s an area for which they’re
well-suited, Lexmark says, because manufacturers have setups where the
printer can automatically apply the tags on shipping labels and
packages using blown air.”We’re almost more creating a new market than
supplanting the thermals in their markets,” said Mark Underwood, a
system architect in Lexmark’s laser printer division who focuses on
RFID technology. “We’re going places they never could go.”And Lexmark
says it’s doing it cheaper since its option costs less and also allows
users to continue to print regular office documents. It also offers a
wide variety of sizes of RFID paper that can be used.And because it can
handle various RFID paper sizes, “we can consolidate two forms into
one,” Calvert said. “It saves the end user money.”Where RFID can go

So just what can Lexmark’s RFID printers do?
Marathon
bibs: RFID is now used to track times for runners in marathons and
other races. In fact, Underwood says that if you trace the tags for the
recent Midsummer Night’s Run far enough back in the supply chain, they
were printed on a Lexmark RFID printer.Asset tags and shipping labels:
Rather than have two separate forms for shipping labels and a tag to
keep track of something like a computer, the Lexmark printer puts it on
the same form.”Why spend 25 cents for two different labels?” Kallop
said.Work-in-process tags: Take a manufacturer that has lots of pieces
for its end product. The RFID tags are used to keep track of each
piece.”If you’re building an engine, they put it on this engine … and
they know when it’s gone from sandblasting to quality control to
shipping,” Kallop said.

Electronic vehicle identification:
Lexmark has worked with a foreign country at one of its main ports at
which automobile manufacturers ship vehicles. The port’s employees are
allowed to buy up to two cars tax-free annually.

But what’s
wound up happening, Kallop says, is that someone might buy a red
convertible and begin driving it to work. A few weeks later, the person
would steal a similar-looking car and security guards would wave it on
through since it matched the description of the employee’s vehicles.Now
the cars are equipped with RFID tags to ensure employees are driving
only what they paid for.The company is also working with a large
metropolitan city, which it declined to name, to explore placing RFID
tags on temporary license plate tags. That city, Kallop said, has
different parking zones where people can park depending on their
license plate. Thieves, however, have taken temporary tags for all
areas and use them “so they can park all over the city,” he said.City
parking employees will now have an RFID device so they can tell whether
a tag on a car is actually registered to that car.

Document
tracking: Attorney offices are rapidly embracing RFID to tag their
files, Kallop said.The companies will set up RFID readers near their
exits that set off an alarm, in some cases, if a file is leaving. Or it
will take a photo, he said, of who took the file, so it can be
tracked.And keeping track of documents is just as relevant at, say, a
hospital, where patients’ charts can often become lost.”Right now, the
number of hours wasted a day at attorney offices, hospitals and
courtrooms looking for documents is just mind-boggling,” Kallop
said.Using RFID, employees can take a device and walk around and it
will begin to beep when it’s near the correct file.

A large law
firm that adopted RFID went from having four people take two days to
perform an audit to ensure all their files were on site to just one
person doing it in four hours, Kallop said.The person walks around with
the device and then at the end, “it will give you a discrepancy report,
and then you go searching for them.”Evidence tracking: Tracking files
is just one piece. Take police departments, which are responsible for
maintaining massive amounts of evidence for criminal cases.Lexmark’s
printer can print RFID evidence labels that can tag everything from a
crow bar used in an assault to a gun.

Lexmark has partnered with
a firm called FileTrail that developed a browser-based records system
to help track and log things like evidence, files and more.Darrell
Mervau, vice president of business development for FileTrail, said the
companies’ offerings can be applied to almost any business that manages
an inventory of physical items.”There really are no limits to what sort
of industry can benefit from RFID,” he said, noting that it would also
be right for automotive part management, inventory management for video
stores, and monitoring of high-end merchandise.It could even be used to
track identified human remains — “think Hurricane Katrina,” he said.

The market
With
opportunities like hospitals, police departments and more, Lexmark says
the market is ripe for expansion.According to data from technology
research firm IDTechEx, the RFID market was around $5.29 billion in
2008 and is expected to grow to $28 billion by 2017.Lexmark makes its
money just like it does in the regular printing industry: selling the
laser printer hardware and toner.”It’s a niche that none of the other
guys have really attacked yet,” said Larry Jamieson of industry tracker
Lyra Research. “Lexmark has a leg up. It’s another opportunity where
they can own a piece of the market.”

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September 25, 2009 at 11:10 AM