Omron Targets Global RFID Market

Omron Corporation, a $5.5 billion Japanese manufacturer of automation and sensing products, will invest $20 million worldwide over 2005 and 2006 as a first step in seizing a larger share of the U.S. and global RFID market. The company’s aggressive entry into the U.S. marketplace focuses on its RFID label inlay and reader products. Omron president and chief executive officer Hisao Sakuta, who has appointed himself as project leader, said “RFID is an important, global initiative which requires a large investment. I believe RFID could be a major growth engine for the company.”  

Sakuta said that certain market conditions in the U.S. and Omron’s own history in RFID product development and testing are creating these opportunities. He added that applications involving Wal-Mart suppliers and others that focus on supply chain management are purely RFID-related and thus “will enable us to put to use our decades of experience in automation and sensing markets.” It aims to take advantage of Wal-Mart Stores’ RFID shipping tag mandate to its top 100 suppliers while leveraging Omron’s 20 years of global RFID product development and application experience.

Press release here.