Rollable shows a new way to track shipped packages using inexpensive paper-based electronic devices that sit on one side of a shipping label.
Making his debut at CES 2025technology uses paper-based electronic devices that have been around for a while – I talked about it when Xerox partners with Thinfilm in 2015 to produce printed circuits on thin materials. But nearly a decade later, the cost of this type of infrastructure has come down, so Reelables can integrate 5G and GPS tracking electronics, along with a zinc-coated battery, into a tag shipping.
Today, package tracking is possible, but you have to trust the shipping company to do it correctly for you, and often you only know what city it is in. Through this you will be able to know where it is anywhere. 5G cellular connection. This means that if it reaches its destination, you will know and have peace of mind that what you sent to someone actually arrived.
If your package goes off the rails or is stolen by someone, you will also be able to find out and report the theft. This may not allow you to recover the package. But it could give you more confidence in the entire shipping system.
The company will showcase the product at CES 2025 at LVCC North Hall, booth 8364.
How it works
A first in the printed electronics industry, Reelables will showcase its latest paper-thin, printable cellular shipping labels at CES, Reelables founder Brian Krejcarek said in a message to GamesBeat.
He said these smart labels look like regular UPS or FedEx labels, but connect to cellular networks to live track packages and goods with real GPS location data, independent of carriers. They don’t rely on tedious and error-prone scanning of barcodes by delivery drivers or warehouse workers, he said.
“This is a game-changer because this new category of smart labels does not require the installation of expensive RFID readers or infrastructure,” Krejcarek said. “The range of typical passive RFID tags is only 10 to 15 feet or less. The Reelables line of active beacon tags is similar to a mobile phone, connecting to cell towers miles away. Or, in the case of Bluetooth Reelables tags, a range of several hundred feet. This means they are able to conduct an inventory audit of an entire warehouse every ten seconds.
He said GPS tracking devices have been around for a while, but for the first time the form of an actual tag and its cost are enabling mass deployments to track almost anything, not just high-value goods. The label has a thickness of less than 0.5 millimeters and can be printed with commercially available barcode printers. This means no new workflows or training are required. Just print, glue and ship like companies already do today, Krejcarek said.
Reelables internally developed the technology and manufacturing capacity to manufacture these tape-like active smart labels at scale, with aircraft-safe zinc-coated batteries, and are in production today. Unlike lithium battery-based devices, Reelables labels are aircraft-safe, non-hazardous, and uniquely classified by U.S. Customs and Border Control as packaging materials, he said. -he declared.
No return logistics are required. As shown by a study of Westrock and Western Michigan University Paper Pilot PlantThe labels are disposable into regular waste streams on corrugated paper and do not require e-waste processing, Krejcarek said.
Only now does widespread 5G Internet of Things cellular infrastructure exist (like AT&T and Vodafone’s NB-IoT) along with the thin-film printed electronics technology that enables this printability, recyclability and soon , a price less than $10, label included. , connectivity and tracking service, Krejcarek said. As you can see in the cover image of this story, Krejcarek was able to see the exact route a package took to get from one destination to another. This is what you will see on your package tracking page.
Reelables doesn’t use Thinfilm or Pragmatic from the UK, because it doesn’t need the flexibility because the chips it uses are so small. Instead, Reelables figured out how to use a silicon-based chip for RF chipsets, bonding directly to the substrate with an epoxy, in an entirely reel-to-reel, solder-free process.
“At Reelables, we produce millions of active-beaconed Bluetooth and cellular tags in-house, with direct-coated zinc batteries, meaning the active electrochemical parts of the battery share the same substrate as the actual RF circuitry to Bluetooth and NB-IoT,” Krejcarek said. “The zinc batteries coated with our substrate mean our labels are non-hazardous goods and aircraft safe. They are also disposable through regular recycling channels and do not need to be treated as e-waste.
