Columbia River Resources Inc. (OTC: CRVR), through its wholly owned subsidiary Traxxec Ltd, is a specialist in providing packaging solutions, in particular in relation to auto-id and Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), where it holds intellectual property and considerable practical experience and knowledge.
The company’s small, focused management team has considerable expertise in providing packaging solutions and developing innovative products in a variety of industries, including pharmaceuticals, where the founders have more than 20 years experience. Strong relationships have been developed in both the global pharmaceutical industry and RFID component sectors over a period of many years.
Manufacturing and Service Industries worldwide are on the cusp of a RFID transformation. Retailers, manufacturers, aerospace, defence, pharmaceutical and healthcare companies have found competitive advantage by intelligently moving the technology forward in to the business strategy playing field
The founders recognised the benefits of the application of RFID technology to the pharmaceutical industry sector more than eight years ago which, when presented to the industry, was acknowledged as the best Auto-Id system commercially available. They subsequently demonstrated the potential with two successful pilot implementations in partnership with major multi-national companies. Following on from these pilots a project report was commissioned by a major pharmaceutical company to identify the issues affecting the practical application of RFID technology. The report’s findings highlighted the weaknesses of the current methods of tag application to packaging items and, as a consequence, the management team set out to develop, patent and commercialise fully integrated RFID enabled packing products.
The first such product – a HDPE pharmaceutical grade bottle – has been produced, its intellectual property protected by a patent and has already been sold to clients in the UK and USA.
Traxxec is in collaboration with Rexam Pharma through a 15 year license contract completed on April 14th 2007. Rexam Pharma is a leading supplier of packaging globally – www.rexam.com. Rexam will supply a range of Radio Frequency enabled products under this license – developed in line with recent guidelines from the Food and Drugs Administration – and Traxxec will receive royalties on sales made and support Rexam’s manufacturing excellence with support in the area of sales, marketing, implementation and cost justification analysis. Traxxec is also able to make available to potential customers the substantial data that has resulted from the founders work in this arena over a period of many years. The license contract was signed by all parties on April 24th 2007 and marketing has begun through Rexam.
What is RFID?
Radio-frequency identification (RFID) is an automatic identification method (auto-id) technology that is able to write to, store and remotely retrieve data from RFID component tags, or transponders, without requiring line of sight. An RFID tag is an object that can be applied to or incorporated into a product, animal, or person for the purpose of identification using radiowaves. Some tags can be read from several meters away and beyond the line of sight of the reader. Most RFID tags contain at least two parts. One is an integrated circuit for storing and processing information, modulating and demodulating a (RF) signal, and other specialized functions. The second is an antenna for receiving and transmitting the signal. A technology called chipless RFID allows for discrete identification of tags without an integrated circuit, thereby allowing tags to be printed directly onto assets at a lower cost than traditional tags.
Today, a significant thrust in RFID use is in enterprise supply chain management, improving the efficiency of inventory tracking and management. However, a threat is looming that the current growth and adoption in enterprise supply chain market will not be sustainable. A fair cost-sharing mechanism, rational motives and justified returns from RFID technology investments are the key ingredients to achieve long-term and sustainable RFID technology adoption.
The following quotation is taken from Pharmaceutical and Medical Packing News, April 2005:
“the day will come when RFID tags are not applied like a label, but are integrated into the material of packaging. The benefits to that is that it will cost less than sticking a label on, and that there is less risk that tags will be damaged, plus, there would be no delay in packaging line speed.”
With the advent of the Traxxec/Rexam RFID enabled packaging, that day has arrived.
Traxxec’s core competencies and strengths include the development of RFID enabled packaging, the design, development and integration of systems that exploit the RFID technology within the business environment, and partnerships in the provision of associated hardware.
Traxxec are pleased to collaborate with Rexam in promoting a range of Radio Frequency enabled products – developed in line with recent guidelines from the Food and Drugs Administration – and to support Rexam’s manufacturing excellence with support in the area of sales, marketing, implementation and cost justification analysis. Traxxec is also able to make available to potential customers the substantial data that has resulted from the founders work in this arena over a period of many years.
Industry Overview
The RFID market in healthcare can be characterized as highly lucrative over the long term, and currently the exact nature of the products demanded by the market is evolving, during a period of high growth, from a low base.
This provides significant opportunity for innovative companies entering the market to establish their products as the standard, thus establishing early, sustainable, market share.
* Tags (including tagged components)
* Hardware (readers/interrogators)
* Software and implementation
The company will initially be focused on the first sector, but aims to leverage its market position in the medium term to enter the other two sectors. The company currently has products applicable to two, synergistic, markets, Pharmaceutical Packaging Components, and RFID based technology systems supporting pharmaceutical manufacturing of commercial and investigational drug products.
The global pharmaceutical packaging market is growing at around 4% annually in value terms and was US$19 billion by 2006. The eight largest drug-producing countries – the USA, Japan, Germany, France, China, the UK, Italy and Switzerland – will account for over 80% of demand for pharmaceutical packaging.
US pharma RFID market set for 60 per cent growth
Kalorama Information is forecasting a compound annual growth rate of 59.6 per cent for the US market in 2007-2012, taking revenues up from $58m last year to $600m five years down the line. According to the Kalorama Information report, the market for RFID applications in the US pharmaceutical industry was worth $35m in 2006, climbing 65.7 per cent to $58m in 2007.
In a broader context, accelerating demand for medicines as populations age sharpens the need to maintain product integrity and patient safety as well as streamlining pharmaceutical business structures, the report observes. “There are a number of solutions to help in this effort but radiofrequency identification is positioned to be a top solution in manufacturing and distribution, clinical trials and sample distribution,” it comments.
Source: http://www.in-pharmatechnologist.com/news/ng.asp?n=83829&m=1IPE310&c=ivaeoxqypxrefpn
Another market driver is the insistence that manufacturers supplying Wal-Mart will be required to apply RFID tags at the unit level to products. Selected manufacturers for Wal-Mart have already begun to use RFID tags, and the system is undergoing testing in Texas stores. Wal-Mart estimated that it will have completely shifted over to RFID technology by Dec. 31, 2006. Although this target has not been met in its entirety, Wal-Mart has declared its intention to use RFID.
In any event the market is poised for dramatic growth, the company’s tagged bottle not only provides a solution to an un-met need, it will also have the effect of accelerating the rate at which RFID is adopted by the market. The early adoption of RFID in this sector is well documented and in the public domain.
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