Parma's RFID Lab Plans Pork Pilot

"We want to pay special attention to all relevant processes in the distribution chain, including the replenishment process in stores," Rizzi says. "We know from other universities partnering with us that major retailers, such as Wal-Mart, are implementing RFID to have more accurate replenishment of their shelves with less stock-out time, as well as punctual control over promotions. This is a critical issue we want to address properly."

Consortium members include Auchan, Chiesi, Cecchi Corriere, Conad, Danone, Grandi Salumifici Italiani, Gruppo Goglio, Lavazza, Nestlé, Number1, Parmacotto and Parmalat. While only a few member companies are providing products and facilities for field-testing, all are involved in the project engineering, from a technical and operational point of view.

"This is a common practice in many RFID Lab activities," Rizzi explains. "Companies share costs and benefits, and have the opportunity to benchmark."

For the trial, Parmacotto will apply passive EPC UHF RFID tags to cases of cut and packaged pork products made at its Parma production plant. The cases will be tracked as they are moved to a Milan-area distribution center run by Auchan, one of the largest retailers in Italy, and then on their way to several Auchan-owned retail outlets.

Oracle will provide its Oracle DataBase and Oracle Fusion Middleware for data acquisition and management; Avery Dennison, Caen RFID, Impinj, Intermec, ITG, LXE, Motorola, Siemens, Toshiba TEC and UPM Raflatac, meanwhile, will support the development of hardware. Universities working in the Global RF Lab Alliance Network will participate in the project as well.