Sato America, a North America provider of auto-ID solutions that empower workforces and streamline operations, and Metalcraft, a manufacturer of RFID tags and labels, have announced Metalcraft’s Universal Mini Onsite Printable RFID tags can be encoded and printed seamlessly utilizing Sato’s CL4NX industrial thermal printer solution.

The Universal Mini Onsite Printable RFID tags are designed for quick, easy printing on the CL4NX. Unlike other printers, Sato’s CL4NX encodes the on-metal RFID tags from the top, greatly reducing the number of voided tags and increasing productivity. Other types of industrial printers encode from the bottom, which results in a high number of encoding errors because on-metal tags include a metal backplane that makes encoding difficult.

The Universal Mini Onsite Printable tags also include a new thermal transfer-receptive topcoat to provide high quality printing in harsh environments. The tag’s engineered construction leads to a smooth, even printing and tag feeding, even in humid and damp environments.

“The Sato CL4NX also offers an exclusive cloning feature that makes printer setup faster and easier. Users simply insert a USB drive loaded with a cloned package file into the printer, install the package file, load the tags and they are ready to print. This not only eliminates configuration errors but also speeds up the entire print process,” states Gary Krause, SATO America senior director of marketing.

“The unique clone feature allows Metalcraft to send a simple setup file to the printer, so end users don’t waste valuable time configuring the printer to use our tags,” says Jared Doerfler, business development director at Metalcraft. “When customers need to print more tags in the future, they don’t have to reconfigure the settings; they are ready to go.”

The Universal Mini Onsite Printable tags are ideal for work-in-process applications in manufacturing environments, as well as for asset management applications in healthcare, IT, automotive, and other environments where variable information is frequently printed, encoded, and updated on site. The tag’s patented inlay provides robust read ranges across a variety of materials but is specifically designed to perform well on metal and glass surfaces where other RFID tags fall short.

The tags are fully customizable and offered as blanks or with four-color graphics. They are also available with a range of high-performance adhesives so customers can ensure the tags stay adhered regardless of the use environment.

“Regardless of the work environment, the combination of the Universal Mini Onsite Printable tag and Sato’s CL4NX industrial printer can help our customers save time and money when it comes to encoding their RFID tags,” says Austin Elling, director of marketing at Metalcraft.

“Innovative and durable, the Mini Onsite Printable RFID tag product, when utilized with the industry leading CL4NX RFID thermal printer, is an example of the solution fulfillment strategies of Sato. This is a Best in Breed solution for healthcare, automotive, manufacturing and other verticals that require trust and reliability,” continues Krause.