Automotive capabilities
Topflight has over 40 years of experience partnering with OEMs, Tier 2, and Tier 3 suppliers to make labels, overlays, sensors, printed electronics, Poron® gaskets, and seals for the tire automotive industry. As pressures increase to reduce costs and vehicle weight while adding functionality, we use our wide range of capabilities to innovate and bring new ideas to market. From supplying a prototype to helping customers consider full-scale production in their designs, Topflight can provide support through your entire design cycle.
Variable data options can also be added to your labels for identification or consumer information, such as UL/CSA numbers, variable or consecutive serial numbering, 2D bar codes, and QR codes. These multiple areas of variable data may reduce your need for secondary print. If RFID antennas are required, Topflight has over 30 years of experience with producing RFID and other functional printed electronics components.
Topflight has vast experience printing conductive inks for applications such as sensors, coils, heaters, circuits, and transistors. We have been at the cutting edge of product design and manufacturing with printing polymer thick films (PTF), carbon/graphene, and silver as well as etching copper and aluminum. Printing electronics can help tire & automotive manufacturers miniaturize components, reduce weight, and add functionality.
In addition, our RFID capabilities can be utilized to add RFID antennas to any label configuration. Antennae can be produced in LF/HF to UHF Microwave frequencies, and from EPC Class 1 to Gen 2. Applications for this technology include windshield readers, inventory management, counterfeiting and theft protection, and asset tracking.
Topflight has deep experience with precision die cutting from thin films and laminates at thicknesses of 0.001″, to open and closed cell foams reaching thicknesses of 0.125″, along with plastic, rubber, and even cloth. Using a rotary die-cutting press, Topflight can laminate up to 8 layers of materials while maintaining tight tolerances. An in-line laser adds additional cutting capabilities, and eliminates the need for tooling.
Some of the parts being converted for tire & automotive include gaskets, seals, components preventing buzz, squeak, and rattle (BSR), noise and vibration dampening components, insulators, attachment tapes and thermal management materials.
Tire & automotive labels need to be sturdy and durable to withstand the unforgiving environments where they are used. Topflight produces labels and overlays that identify, instruct, and warn the consumer. High-performance applications can be developed to work with high temperatures, solvents, weather and UV exposure, and difficult adhesive surfaces. Everything is customized to meet all requirements and regulations for your automotive application.
Self-destructing, frangible acetate materials, patterned adhesives, or custom-printed void patterns can also warn of tampering. To create a destructible label out of any material, security slits can be added during production, rendering the label irremovable once adhered.
