RAIN RFID is the commercial name for the ultra-high frequency (UHF) technology behind the EPC Global Gen2 V2/ ISO18000-6 standards. It’s a passive wireless technology, meaning it doesn’t need a battery. It can be embedded in rigid tags, paper stickers, and as part of circuit boards. It can then be read very accurately at a distance of several meters, without a line of sight, and in bulk. RAIN RFID makes it possible to identify, locate, and engage items and has been used in supply chains for many years for tracking and authentication.

Today, it connects billions of everyday items to the internet. In automotive manufacturing, automakers have been some of the first to deploy Industry 4.0 techniques. RAIN RFID is a prominent part of this transition to Industry 4.0 because it lets everything – parts, components, containers, tools, and finished products become integrated into the automated processes within the manufacturing plant and at every point in the supply chain.

RAIN RFID for Automotive

Vehicle manufacturing has its particular requirements for ruggedness and reliability. There are RAIN RFID tags made with special adhesives and materials that are purpose-engineered and pre-qualified to withstand automotive-grade production and operation to support this challenging operating environment. RAIN RFID tags can go where barcodes and other optical codes can’t, including high-temperature paint environments, where the peak temperature can range between 190 and 230°C. As a result, RAIN RFID can be used almost anywhere in the vehicle (inside, outside, under the hood) and with difficult-to-label automotive components, including batteries, engine blocks, fuel caps, bumpers, cables, and tires.

Benefits of RAIN RFID:

There are dozens of use cases, up and down the supply chain, where RAIN RFID can enhance operations. Whether it’s upstream from manufacturing, with suppliers of raw materials, components, and sub-assemblies, or downstream with third-party logistics companies and dealerships, RAIN RFID can enhance transparency, streamline processes, and help increase efficiency.

• End-to-end transparency: Enables full visibility, from the earliest manufacturing stages to final vehicle delivery and beyond.
• Better process control: Ensures that the right parts, components, and tools are in the right location when they’re needed, so production lines can stay up and running.
• Increased efficiency: This allows for more automation and, as a result, makes manufacturing processes more efficient.

RAIN RFID Innovations

A related innovation is RAIN RFID tags for tires. The tag can withstand vulcanization, so it can be embedded inside the rubber, where it can provide identification and collect information as it proceeds through the supply chain. Once the tire is in use on a vehicle, the tag makes it easier to integrate after-sales services, with quick reads of tire type and origin and operating data such as Tyre pressures and distance traveled.

At Syrma, we can work throughout the automotive sector to use RAIN RFID to enhance lifecycle management, increase supply-chain transparency, make factories smarter, and improve driver experiences. Our UCODE family of RAIN RFID ICs includes three categories of technology and supports use cases that range from basic identification to reprogrammable memory for dynamic interactions and crypto-functionality for high-level security. Along with our partners in the RAIN RFID ecosystem, we support different aspects of the operation, from tags and readers to software, including applications on readers, backend software in the enterprise, and analytics in the cloud.

Backed by 40 Years of Expertise

We contribute our 40 years of design and manufacturing expertise spanning multiple diverse markets. We look forward to discussing how we can deliver world-class products for OEMs across the globe. We understand our home Indian market, familiar with its vast regulatory and selling environments. We foster growth opportunities within India through our strong technology incubation ecosystem. We also assist global OEMs in entering the Indian market by leveraging the local supply chain and favorable operating environments for cost reductions.

Our flagship Chennai location opened in 2006 and lies within a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) for electronics manufacturing, offering economic incentives for imports and exports. This primary facility is within 90 minutes of the Chennai seaport and 20 minutes to the international airport. Additional road and rail connectivity links to the rest of India and beyond and infrastructure advantages with faster import and export clearances. We also have labor force flexibility, both technical and manual, to scale to demand rapidly.

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