SATO, Smart Guard partner to protect publishing/entertainment industry
03 December, 2009
category: RFID
SATO announced a deal between Smart Guard LLC, which grants SATO rights to all of the Smart Guard patents. Smart Guard is a patented manufacturing process incorporating RFID technology into item level tagging for the book publishing/media and entertainment industries.
Smart Guard, developed by BindTech Inc., developed an in-line manufacturing process to apply and fully conceal an RFID tag in the cover or spine of hard cover products such as books, DVDs, CDs, game boards, puzzles, diaries, ledgers, and any other type of hard cover product as it is being manufactured.
The methods being used by publishers, bookstores, and businesses is to apply RFID tags after the products are received. Doing so costs time and could be problematic as employees may not tag all items, customers deliberately remove them or adhesives may fail to cure and the tag may remove itself.
The idea behind this solution is to prevent malicious attempts to tamper with the products. Because the electronic serial ID is concealed during the manufacturing process and cannot be removed without destroying the media, theft is deterred. This solution also assists by in preventing fraudulent returns, when customers try to return illegal or pirated copies of media.
By implementing RFID technology as an automated in-line manufacturing process time is saved at the retail level, cutting labor costs to a minimum and allowing businesses to track and monitor their products every step of the way through the supply chain.