The firm is working with Translink in Holland to introduce contactless tickets next year and, according to vice president of sales and marketing Peter Gawley, will also be one of the first to provide RFID tags for supermarket giant Wal-Mart.

Gawley said every pallet supplied to Wal-Mart from 1 Jan 2005 from its top suppliers would have to be tagged. Wal-Mart receives 1m pallets worldwide per day.

Rafsec is already heavily involved in an initiative with the Auto-ID Centre, which is developing a system to replace the barcode within the next five to 10 years in a bid to improve the retail supply chain.

Firms such as Procter & Gamble, Wal-Mart and Unilever are sponsoring the scheme. It has been pilot tested by Gillette, Benetton, and Marks & Spencer on individual products.

The barcode replacement system will allow RFIDs to be used to allow automated inventory control, and the monitoring of stock levels on retail shelves, effectively creating smart shelves.

Rafsec was established in 1997 by UPM-Kymmene to develop anti-theft label technology, but it has since moved into RFID development with production facilities in Jyvskyl, and a head office and product development centre in Tampere, Finland.

It employs about 60 staff and has sales offices in the UK, US and Singapore.

Story by Andy Scott