AUBURN, Ala.- Maxim, a global manufacturer of labels, tags and packaging, has announced it is opening an RFID and smart label manufacturing operation in Auburn, 1.7 miles from the Auburn University RFID Lab. The company is investing $1.4 million in production equipment and build-out and will create up to 15 jobs.

The facility will operate as Maxim Solutions Auburn, LLC and be located at 967 Stage Road. Maxim has 21 factories worldwide, and this is their second manufacturing operation in the United States. This announcement comes as Auburn University’s new RFID Lab is under construction in The Park. The RFID Lab is a leading independent research center for RFID and item-level intelligence in retail and supply chain.

“Auburn has established itself as a community where innovation and advanced technology companies come to collaborate and grow,” said Mayor Ron Anders. “We recognize the pivotal role Auburn University’s RFID Lab has played in positioning Auburn as a destination for high-quality technology companies. We welcome Maxim and look forward to their many successes.”

The 5,680 square-foot facility places Maxim’s RFID production capability just over a mile from the AU RFID Lab.

“Watching an RFID tag go from inlay to finished, verified product is something you can only really do on a production floor,” Justin Patton, director of the Auburn University RFID Lab, said. “With a partner a mile and a half away, we can walk a brand through that whole process and show them quality control running at production speed. That is the part of RFID that determines whether a program actually works, and it matters for the work we are doing to demonstrate real value to suppliers.”

Maxim’s Auburn facility will produce RFID hangtags, stickers and NFC labels and tags. Printed, encoding, verification and finishing will all happen on site, so brands ordering serialized and verified product will have the benefit of domestic lead times instead of dealing with overseas production.

“When we looked at where RFID technology is headed and where some of the industry’s deepest expertise and innovation already live, both answers pointed to Auburn,” said Robert Chai, CEO of Maxim. “The Auburn RFID Lab has built an incredible ecosystem of knowledge, research and leadership that has helped shape the future of RFID. We see Auburn as the epicenter of RFID innovation, and establishing our new manufacturing facility here allows Maxim to be part of that. We’ll be able to manufacture RFID labels, conduct verification and testing, and develop new solutions right here with the Auburn RFID Lab.”

Founded in 1973, Maxim operates 21 factories across Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and the Americas, serving apparel, retail and consumer goods brands with labels, tags, trim, packaging and digitally integrated product solutions. The company holds FSC chain-of-custody certification at 15 of its locations and ISO 27001 certification for information security, is a GS1 US Executive Solution Partner, and has committed to carbon neutrality across its global operations by 2050.