Two years ago, Phenix Label entered into the RFID space, bringing its more than 125 years of experience in printing into the expanding segment. Earlier this year, the company announced it has doubled production capacity of RFID-enabled packaging for hard-to-tag retail products, such as water-based food items. Mark Volz, VP of sales and marketing, offers his insights into Phenix Label’s growth in the RFID market, and what is next for the company.

Printed Electronics Now: What is the history behind Phenix Label?

Mark Volz: Phenix Label is a family-owned printing business dedicated to delivering world-class service and solutions for more than 125 years. Specializing in label, tag and shrink sleeve products, Phenix Label helps customers strengthen their shelf presence, attract consumers and increase sales. Today, the company brings advanced innovation and technologies such as RFID and near-field communications (NFC) to innovative package designs to improve supply chain efficiency, innovation and sustainability and ensures added value and return on investment for its clients.  


Printed Electronics Now: What are the key markets for Phenix Label?

Mark Volz: Phenix Label specializes in designing persuasive packaging that helps retail brands strengthen their shelf presence, attract consumers and increase sales. Phenix Label’s RFID solutions include label, flexible packaging and shrink sleeve for key markets including household products/ consumer packaged goods (CPG), food and beverage packaging and nutraceutical brands. The Phenix Label RFID-enabled packaging design is currently being used by liquid-filled retail brands, enabling them to meet evolving RFID tagging mandates from major retailers such as Walmart.  These products include pesticides, bleaches, household cleaning products and automotive products.


Printed Electronics Now:  What led Phenix Label to enter the RFID segment, and when did that occur?

Mark Volz: In 2023, Phenix Label entered the RFID market with a compelling value-added solution designed to meet the needs of customers to comply with RFID mandates, while still providing a more elegant packaging solution for their products than what is available in the market today. Phenix Label understands that the retail sale starts on the shelf with compelling and persuasive packaging. The revolutionary new tear-away RFID label provides retail brands a powerful marketing solution that helps them secure valuable top-shelf positioning throughout major retail stores across the country, increasing their bottom line.  


Printed Electronics Now: What differentiates Phenix Label from other printers?

Mark Volz: Phenix Label continues to innovate, from our early adoption of LED inks and drying systems, to pioneering RFID-enabled packaging that resolves challenges inherent in tagging liquid-filled bottles. Phenix Label goes above and beyond to offer quality and reliability, tailoring label and packaging solutions to each customer’s specific needs and helping brands achieve their ideal look and presence. The company’s dedication to supply chain efficiency and innovation ensures added value and return on investment for its clients. Moreover, we are proud that Phenix Label operations are 99 percent landfill-free, offering sustainable packaging that contributes to clients’ social responsibility.

Phenix Label’s unique RFID-enabled packaging design enables reliable scannability on the store shelf. Plus, the extended tear-away tab design offers additional packaging space for persuasive marketing, increasing product visibility on the retail shelf, as well as supporting sustainability by allowing consumers to easily remove the RFID portion to recycle empty bottles. 


Printed Electronics Now: Do you see a lot of business on the RFID side?

Mark Volz: RFID represents a growing market segment for Phenix Label. Since entering the market, the company has made significant investments in RFID technology, and has recently doubled production capacity of RFID-enabled packaging design. Phenix Label’s value-added RFID products and services will lead our business growth, from patent-pending RFID labels to dynamic NFC solutions that offer a compelling customer experience on the retail shelf.

The smart label industry is experiencing significant transformation driven by evolving consumer preferences and supply chain complexities. According to an IBM study, 71% of consumers are now willing to pay an additional premium of 37% for companies providing full transparency and traceability in their products. This shift in consumer behavior has prompted manufacturers to invest heavily in smart labeling technologies that enable end-to-end visibility.

We believe the food supply chain particularly highlights this need for transparency, being one of the most complex and fragmented sectors. This growing demand for transparency has catalyzed innovations in smart label technologies across various industries.


Printed Electronics Now: What is your outlook for RFID in the coming years?

Mark Volz: RFID is a significant growth driver for Phenix Label. Our breakthrough packaging design substantially improves reliability of RFID scanning for liquid-filled CPG and food items, empowering more accurate inventory management and traceability for grocery and nutraceutical brands. Given the value of RFID for reliable, real-time tracking throughout the supply chain, we anticipate significant business growth in the food traceability market.

It’s estimated that the smart label market is currently growing at a rate of roughly 16% per year.  Phenix Label expects to experience that same level of growth and more in the coming years, becoming a major player in the market.


Printed Electronics Now: Is there anything you would like to add?

Mark Volz: For over a century, our customers have entrusted Phenix Label to deliver reliable, high-quality label solutions; however, we are not stuck in the past. Our innovative label and packaging solutions are shaping the future of the packaging industry.

From patent-pending RFID labels and dynamic NFC solutions, to vivid high-definition printing, we strive to help clients truly differentiate their products on the retail shelf and exceed their brand vision. And by doubling production capacity of our RFID-enabled packaging design, Phenix Label enables the company’s clients to significantly ramp up their production volume.