MAINtag And Tego Win Airbus Tender For High-Memory RFID Flyable Parts Program
Airbus selects FLYtag™ technology for tagging thousands of parts and components on the A350 XWB for improved maintenance and logistics
MAINtag SAS, the market leader in RFID system solutions and Tego, Inc., the leading provider of high-memory RFID tagging solutions, today announced that the companies' jointly-developed FLYtag™ products will be used in a pioneering effort to tag thousands of aircraft parts across the Airbus (Paris Stock Exchange: EAD) A350 XWB fleet.
MAINtag will be the prime contractor for the jointly secured multi-year Airbus contract to supply next-generation RFID high-memory tags that can hold the complete birth record and maintenance history of aircraft parts, enabling new cutting-edge Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) applications. The combination of MAINtag's expertise in tag manufacturing and Tego's high-memory chip, provides the first standards-compliant, high memory and fully-passive RFID tags that help achieve Airbus' goal of value chain visibility.
The A350 XWB will begin using MAINtag's FLYtag solution, which incorporates Tego's high-memory RFID chip (the TegoChip™), to tag over 1,500 pressurized and nonpressurized parts and components on each aircraft. MAINtag and Tego will offer the FLYtag™ for use on all aircraft. The A350 XWB will be the first aircraft in the Airbus fleet that will use RFID on flyable parts and will be rolled out with the involvement of Airbus suppliers. The program will deploy ruggedized high-memory RFID tags on flyable parts, allowing improved aircraft configuration management and line maintenance, repair shop optimization, warehouse logistics, payload tracking and lifelimited parts monitoring.
"The FLYtag™ offered the best combination of memory, size, weight, reading distances and read times, which met or exceeded Airbus's specific requirements," said Bruno Lo- Ré, president of MAINtag.
Tego's high-memory passive RFID chip supports up to 32Kbytes of memory and is currently offered in an on-metal tag manufactured by MAINtag, which is pre-configured at 4Kbytes. With 32,000 bytes of high-memory capacity, the TegoChip™ far exceeds the 512 bits of standard extended-memory chips available on the market today. Under the Airbus contract MAINtag will provide two FLYtag™ designs, both for use on-metal, allowing physical attachment options for different parts requirements. The companies will offer an increased memory size of 8 Kbytes by the end of 2010, and plan to offer greater memory and performance over the next few years.
"We are very proud to have been chosen by Airbus, and are excited to work with MAINtag to deliver the first flyable parts RFID tags that will allow Airbus and its suppliers to get RFID in the air quickly," said Timothy Butler, president and CEO of Tego, Inc.
Said Bruno Lo-Ré, "The combination of MAINtag and Tego's expertise brings the most advanced RFID technology to market for applications that require high memory and must survive harsh environments. We look forward to working with Tego."
The new FLYtag™ will be available in early 2010.
About MAINtag SAS
MAINtag is a leading company providing high added value & business focused RFID
solutions including tags, readers and software to major accounts for their industrial
optimisation. Founded in 2004 MAINtag design and produces, in house, rugged
industrial RFID tags for challenging environments MAINtag's expertise in design and
manufacture of tags, readers and software for harsh and demanding environments
enables it to meet the needs of customers in the aerospace, rail, manufacturing, health
and agro-food industries. MAINtag is based in Paris, France. For more information,
visit www.maintag.com.
About Tego, Inc.
Founded in 2005, Tego, Inc. is a provider of high-memory RFID chips, tags and software.
Its breakthrough technology enables a whole new generation of RFID applications that
go beyond simple identification to allow rich storage of information and data tagged to
assets for their life. Tego's tags, software and system design provide new solutions to
address vertical applications and markets that include asset tracking and management;
performance management; safety, security and authentication; regulatory compliance
and supply chain management. Tego, Inc. is based in Waltham, MA. For more
information, visit www.tegoinc.com
SOURCE: Tego, Inc.