Aug 14, 2007RFID Journal, the world's leading media and events company covering radio frequency identification (RFID), and EPCglobal North America, a not-for-profit member organization supporting the adoption of EPC technology, today announced that the University of Arkansas' RFID Research Center, a leading RFID lab, will conduct four live demonstrations of EPC technology in the exhibit hall at EPC Connection 2007. The fourth annual EPCglobal North America conference and exhibition will be held Oct. 2-4, at Chicago's Donald E. Stephens Convention Center.
The RFID Research Center has conducted numerous seminal studies into the application of RFID technology. study showed that RFID helped reduce out-of-stocks by 16 percent across the board, and as much as 60 percent on some fast-moving items. The center has built one of the world's most sophisticated RFID labs, which contains conveyor systems, a simulated store and a freezer for testing cold-chain applications
The Technology Demonstration Center at EPC Connection 2007 will feature the following live demonstrations:
How to Comply With Tagging Requirements
For companies that will soon be required to tag shipments for a customer, or that have decided to begin tagging voluntarily, this demonstration will show how to achieve consistently high read rates by placing a tag in the proper location on a case or pallet of a specific product.
Testing in an Accredited Lab
Many companies have turned to labs accredited by EPCglobal to determine the proper type and placement of tags on their products, and to ensure they comply with customer requirements. In this demonstration, researchers from the EPCglobal-accredited RFID Research Center will walk through a series of tests, explaining why each is performed, so attendees can learn how to comply with tagging requirements and understand the value of EPCglobal Accredited Performance Test Centers.
Reading Cases on a Pallet
One way companies can achieve internal benefits while complying with customer mandates is to employ EPC tags to improve shipping accuracy and automatically generate advance shipping notices. In this demonstration, attendees will see how tags can be read as cases of goods are stacked on a pallet, as well as how reading the tags can confirm that the cases on that pallet match the purchase order.
Tagging Individual Items
Many companies believe the real benefits of EPC will come when they can tag individual goods, but they worry that they won't be able to achieve high enough read rates when large numbers of tagged objects are grouped closely together. In this demonstration, attendees will discover how individual items can be tagged and read successfully, and researchers will discuss some of the challenges and use cases of such a scenario.
"Interest in Electronic Product Code technologies has moved beyond mandates," says Bill Hardgrave, director of the RFID Research Center, which is part of the Information Technology Research Institute (ITRI) at the Sam M. Walton College of Business. "Companies are finding real value in particular applications of the technology, and we want to show attendees at EPC Connection how they can overcome the technical challenges to achieve real business benefits."
EPC Connection will be produced in partnership with RFID Journal. The conference program will feature keynote addresses by Kevin Turner, COO of Microsoft; Khaled Haram, senior VP and CIO of Handleman, a distributor of CDs and DVDs; and Monica Laufenberg, senior director and CIO of Maersk Logistics.
The conference program will offer four educational tracks (Supply Chain/Inventory Management, IT/Infrastructure, Manufacturing and Distribution/Logistics) and three preconference seminars (EPC Essentials, RFID in Packaging and the sixth RFID Academic Convocation, which will showcase the latest research on RFID applications). In addition, the conference will feature new case studies and objective end-user presentations from such companies as Ahold, AmerisourceBergen, Anheuser-Busch, Boeing, Cephalon, Coca-Cola, Dean Foods, Dow Corning, Exel, Handleman, John Deere, Kimberly-Clark, Lockheed-Martin, Maersk Logistics, McKesson, Microsoft, Northrop Grumman, Pfizer, Procter & Gamble, Rolls-Royce, Schiff Nutrition, Shaw Industries, Technicolor, Wal-Mart and Wilson Sporting Goods.
"We're extremely pleased to have the University of Arkansas' RFID Research Center providing education in the exhibit hall," says Mark Roberti, founder and editor of RFID Journal. "Attendees can learn which applications are delivering benefits for early adopters, discover how to apply RFID at the Technology Demonstration Center and engage vendors exhibiting at the event. This is truly a cost-effective way for companies to learn how and where they can successfully apply RFID technologies today."
