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Cold Chain and Item-Level Tracking Will Drive RFID Adoption
RFID Journal: How has the lab adapted to the changes in the industry?
Hardgrave: It's been a natural, evolutionary change for us. We started off focused on the supply chain. Like those in industry, we learned a lot about what RFID could and could not do, and what some of the early wins are. The insights that we gained about the benefits from tagging cases in the supply chain enabled us to see that the benefits were even greater if you add the ability to monitor the temperature and condition of the product. We began looking at what this could mean for the ultimate quality of that product. We've used what we learned about RFID in the supply chain to broaden our research into other areas that could help companies be more competitive than others in their industries.
RFID Journal: You said 15 faculty members have been involved with work in the lab. What disciplines do they come from?
Hardgrave: We've had faculty from industrial engineering, electrical engineering, computer science, computing engineering, logistics, animal science, political science and information systems—a wide variety of disciplines.
RFID Journal: How valuable has the lab been for students?
Hardgrave: It has generated a lot of interest among students. I have 14 students working in the lab right now. It's a great experience for them. They hire our students and then, when they find out they have RFID experience, they move them onto RFID projects.
RFID Journal: Do you have any significant projects on the horizon?
Hardgrave: The two biggest areas of research for us are studies in the cold chain, improving the quality of product as it moves from factory or farm to the consumer and effective and efficient use of RFID to track big-ticket items. We are already working with a couple of end-user companies. The thing that is exciting about cold chain is RFID can change the way we look at food quality. If we understand more about the impact of changes in temperature and humidity as products move through the supply chain, we can potentially get the product to the shelf with a longer shelf life and better quality. We might be able to use RFID to reduce damage or reduce the onset of some type of bacterial growth by a certain percentage; that is potentially very valuable. People see the effect RFID can have on improving the condition of, say, lettuce, and all of a sudden others want to test its capability with apples or broccoli or meat products. It starts to spread very quickly. People want to do it because they want to get return. That's why I think it can drive adoption quickly.
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Hardgrave: It's been a natural, evolutionary change for us. We started off focused on the supply chain. Like those in industry, we learned a lot about what RFID could and could not do, and what some of the early wins are. The insights that we gained about the benefits from tagging cases in the supply chain enabled us to see that the benefits were even greater if you add the ability to monitor the temperature and condition of the product. We began looking at what this could mean for the ultimate quality of that product. We've used what we learned about RFID in the supply chain to broaden our research into other areas that could help companies be more competitive than others in their industries.
RFID Journal: You said 15 faculty members have been involved with work in the lab. What disciplines do they come from?
Hardgrave: We've had faculty from industrial engineering, electrical engineering, computer science, computing engineering, logistics, animal science, political science and information systems—a wide variety of disciplines.
RFID Journal: How valuable has the lab been for students?
Hardgrave: It has generated a lot of interest among students. I have 14 students working in the lab right now. It's a great experience for them. They hire our students and then, when they find out they have RFID experience, they move them onto RFID projects.
RFID Journal: Do you have any significant projects on the horizon?
Hardgrave: The two biggest areas of research for us are studies in the cold chain, improving the quality of product as it moves from factory or farm to the consumer and effective and efficient use of RFID to track big-ticket items. We are already working with a couple of end-user companies. The thing that is exciting about cold chain is RFID can change the way we look at food quality. If we understand more about the impact of changes in temperature and humidity as products move through the supply chain, we can potentially get the product to the shelf with a longer shelf life and better quality. We might be able to use RFID to reduce damage or reduce the onset of some type of bacterial growth by a certain percentage; that is potentially very valuable. People see the effect RFID can have on improving the condition of, say, lettuce, and all of a sudden others want to test its capability with apples or broccoli or meat products. It starts to spread very quickly. People want to do it because they want to get return. That's why I think it can drive adoption quickly.
