SATO, a manufacturer of barcode printing, labeling, and EPC/RFID products, has announced its strategic investment in Nexgen Packaging, a global provider of apparel brand identification and packaging products.

Founded in 2006, Nexgen Packaging, a privately held company, is a provider of brand identification products to both apparel manufacturers and retailers for their private label programs. Nexgen focuses its efforts on the design, marketing, manufacturing and distribution of woven and printed labels, heat transfers, graphic tags, price tickets & item level RFID labels and tags.

“We have seen healthy growth in our RFID business and Nexgen’s brand identification relationships and item level RFID experience are highly complementary to our own product strategy and growth initiatives,” says Kaz Matsuyama, president and CEO of SATO Holdings Corporation. “The investment in Nexgen Packaging exemplifies our mission to grow internationally and complements the business models of both Nexgen and SATO alike.”

Nexgen will continue to operate as an independent entity, and the current Nexgen management team will remain in place. Going forward, SATO and Nexgen will leverage strategic benefits from each other, such as mutual RFID development and deployment, as well as leveraging SATO’s global footprint. As mentioned, both companies plan to operate independently with a “strategically complementary relationship” to ensure that both companies take full advantage of their strengths.

“Few companies have the depth of experience and focus on innovation in variable data printing and RFID-encoding as SATO,” says Andy Effron, managing partner of Nexgen. “Our new relationship with SATO strengthens Nexgen in the expansion of global operations and delivery of industry-leading innovation to better serve our customers. We are very excited about this partnership, and look forward to working closely with the SATO global team.”