RFID Journal LIVE! Europe 2015

10 Nov, 2015 11:55 am

The John Lewis Success Story: From Pilot to Deployment

John Lewis is a leading department store retailer in the U.K., owned by The John Lewis Partnership, which also operates Waitrose supermarkets. In 2007, the company made its first foray into RFID with a one-store evaluation in the women’s shoe department. Based on the results of that project, in 2008, it moved to men’s suits in four trial stores and four control stores, tagging at the source. Hear how the firm recently conducted a pilot in three shops which included the integration of legacy systems and 25,000 SKUs across selected fashion assortments. Gain an understanding of the challenges faced by John Lewis and how the company plans to roll out item-level RFID to more stores.

10 Nov, 2015 12:35 pm

Marc O’Polo Discovers RFID’s Benefits

German casual apparel company Marc O’Polo has adopted a radio frequency identification solution to track its products across the entire supply chain, from its distribution center to 86 of its stores throughout Europe. The company installed the system in 2014, and is now expanding the deployment to include the tagging of products by manufacturers, thereby enabling the retailer to track its merchandise from the point at which they are made. The technology has enabled Marc O’Polo to obtain real-time, accurate inventory data, making it possible for consumers to find what they need while shopping at the store. Learn how the firm is using RFID to increase revenue, thanks to the higher availability of goods on the sales floor.

10 Nov, 2015 1:15 pm

Lunch Break in Exhibit Hall

10 Nov, 2015 10:45 am

RFID: The Omnichannel Enabler

Retail 3.0 is here, driven by the consumer’s demand for an “anywhere, anytime, any product” experience. The response to this new consumer demand is omnichannel retailing. Unfortunately, most retailers are not yet in a position to successfully implement an omnichannel strategy because they do not know (with confidence) what they have and where they have it. Existing methods of inventory management are inadequate in an omnichannel world. Instead, a new approach to inventory management, enabled by radio frequency identification, is required. In this presentation, Bill Hardgrave will discuss the basic underpinnings of a successful omnichannel strategy—such as ship-from-stores and buy-online-pickup-in-stores—and how these strategies are enabled by RFID.

10 Nov, 2015 5:20 pm

RFID Use Grows and Evolves at Marks & Spencer

A pioneer in the use of radio frequency identification, Marks & Spencer (M&S) is one of the United Kingdom’s leading retailers, with some 760 stores. In 2001, M&S began using RFID to track deliveries of fresh food into distribution centers. In 2004, the company launched its RFID effort, deploying a solution to tag and track some clothing items at several locations. From 2012 to 2014, M&S saw a massive expansion in its deployment & to include 380 of its largest U.K. stores and more than 95% of its apparel and homeware. Since then, M&S has been busy investigating and trialing new uses of the technology across the entire scope of its operations. Learn why the firm expects the technology’s future benefits to provide even greater merchandise visibility and accuracy, from suppliers through DCs and into stores, to support their omnichannel efforts. Hear how RFID will be used to reduce costs, make processes more efficient, improve accuracy and ultimately enhance top-line and bottom-line performance.

10 Nov, 2015 3:55 pm

Networking Break in Exhibit Hall

10 Nov, 2015 4:40 pm

Moods of Norway Increases Sales via RFID

Scandinavian clothing company Moods of Norway (MoN) has equipped 13 of its stores with RFID technology to better manage its inventory. This deployment follows a six-month pilot that boosted sales of men’s shirts and suits by double digits. During the pilot (which consisted of tagging men’s shirts and suits, and using a handheld reader to conduct inventory counts on the sales floor), the system not only provided 98 to 99 percent inventory accuracy, but also reduced the amount of labor employees spent performing manual inventory checks, thereby enabling more frequent checks. Learn how MoN expanded the program to include men’s suits, and how it expects to tag all children’s, sports, women’s and men’s clothing, as well as footwear.

10 Nov, 2015 3:00 pm

GIKS Fashion Chain Deploys RFID in Stores and DC Within a Week

GIKS MODE sells fashion and apparel items from multiple top brands, with stores across Belgium. The chain is using RFID at all of its stores and its distribution center to increase sales and reduce shrinkage. The fashion retail chain put the technology into production during a single week in June, due to careful planning and execution, as well as the plug-and-play nature of the selected solution. The firm is tagging all of its items at the central DC and, as a result, has gained visibility into stock movements across the entire supply chain. GIKS MODE deployed a variety of in-store and supply chain applications, including weekly store cycle counts, shipment validation, early detection of vendor errors and automated point-of-sale checkout. During this presentation, the firm will discuss its RFID deployment, along with IT considerations and RFID business benefits for fashion retail chains.

10 Nov, 2015 6:00 pm

Conference Concludes

10 Nov, 2015 8:30 am

Welcome Coffee in Exhibit Hall

10 Nov, 2015 9:00 am

Opening Remarks

10 Nov, 2015 9:15 am

The State of RFID Adoption in Europe

In this presentation, RFID Journal’s Mark Roberti will bring attendees up to date on the state of adoption in Europe, share insights into which industries are adopting RFID most quickly and explain which factors are currently driving adoption. As the editor of RFID Journal, Roberti has had a unique view of the RFID industry’s development around the globe. This session will also provide an overview of the RFID market in Europe today, including future projections and opportunities the industry will face in 2016 and beyond.

10 Nov, 2015 10:20 am

Container Terminal Tracks Cranes via RFID

A container facility at one Eastern European port authority has deployed an automated solution for managing the movements of containers onto and off of vessels that includes radio frequency identification. The system employs multiple identification technologies to identify containers and terminal tractors, and thereby better manage vessel loading and unloading processes. Based, in part, on cameras and optical character recognition software, the solution utilizes passive ultrahigh-frequency RFID technology to identify a particular terminal tractor and determine if that vehicle is in the proper position under the gantry crane for loading or unloading containers. The system has made damage inspection automatic, thereby providing evidence of any container damage. Hear how the firm expects that the technology will enable a reduction in the number of employees required for operations, thereby lowering labor costs.

10 Nov, 2015 11:25 am

Networking Break in Exhibit Hall

10 Nov, 2015 11:55 am

PKN Orlen Uses RFID-Powered Fuel Tanks to Improve Rail Yard Logistics

PKN Orlen, a major Polish oil refiner and petrol retailer, is using RFID to track fuel tanks in rail yards. The firm has tagged more than 5,000 tanks, utilizing 100 fixed readers and 70 mobile readers, using GS1 standards. The project also includes equipping 100 gates with RFID, enabling direction recognition. Learn how PKN Orlen is successfully using the solution to provide transparency into logistics and improve its planning processes.

10 Nov, 2015 12:35 pm

The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust Uses RTLS to Create a Real-Time Hospital

The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust has installed an infrared (IR)-based RFID solution that it believes has made the facility the largest “real-time hospital” in the world, as part of its SafeHands program. The program monitors more than one million hand-hygiene events per month, tracking the interactions of patients and personnel, as well as equipment use, site-wide. By monitoring the locations of assets, patients and staff members, the hospital believes that it can provide a safer and more efficient environment for patients and employees. The facility also utilizes the technology to record patient, staff and asset contacts during disease outbreaks, and to better understand patient dependency by analyzing staff times at bedsides.

10 Nov, 2015 1:15 pm

Lunch Break in Exhibit Hall

10 Nov, 2015 2:20 pm

Poltrona Frau Uses RFID to Increase Manufacturing and Logistics Efficiency

Italian furniture manufacturer Poltrona Frau, a leader in top-of-the-range furniture recognized throughout the world for the design and production of its Italian-made goods, has been refining its sophisticated expertise in hand-crafted workmanship for more than 100 years. Each year, Poltrona Frau manages a countless number of European full-grain leather pieces, each one with specific characteristics. Due to the very high cost and the strategic role of this material, the firm introduced RFID into its manufacturing process to track and trace leather from the tannery to the production department, where it is then made into a piece of luxury furniture. Learn how the company is using the technology to manage the leather warehouse, where every optimization has a huge impact on the overall efficiency of the production process.

10 Nov, 2015 2:40 pm

Engineering Firm Uses RFID to Keep Track of Tools, Workers

A global structural and civil-engineering firm has eliminated the need for its construction foremen to manually track the company’s 6,000 pieces of equipment at dozens of European construction sites, and reduced the amount of time needed for its annual inventory check by 50 percent, by adopting an RFID-based solution. The company has approximately 60 active construction sites throughout much of Europe, where its personnel are working at any given time. The firm also provides equipment—including cable drums, excavators and excavator shovels—to those sites, and must monitor when those items are used, inspected, repaired or moved from one location to another, or back to the headquarters. Find out how, in addition to reducing labor time to track equipment, the system is being used by the payroll department to log workers onto and off the site at the beginning and end of each shift.

10 Nov, 2015 3:55 pm

Networking Break in Exhibit Hall

10 Nov, 2015 4:40 pm

Managing Returnable Transit Items (RTIs) Using RFID

PLS, a British provider of plastic pallets and reusable containers, as well as a manager of pallets and containers used by other companies, is deploying RFID to track its own assets—while also helping customers to set up RFID tracking for their reusable pallets and containers. PLS is currently tagging its own products, in addition to installing RFID interrogators at its three European depots (two in the United Kingdom, and one in Germany), and at a number of third-party warehouses that the firm utilizes to ship its pallets and containers throughout Europe. In this session, hear the company’s future plans, which include putting readers in customers’ warehouses, and enabling them to share information with PLS regarding the containers’ movements.

10 Nov, 2015 5:20 pm

RFID Works: Business Visibility as a Processes Facilitator

In this session, hear from airline industry veteran Fernando Ferreira Matos about how RFID technology has been used by maintenance and engineering (M&E) divisions to monitor aircraft engine components undergoing maintenance, track GSEs and tools, and increase safety. Learn how the solutions resulted in increased efficiencies in labor-intensive operations within a complex series of processes requiring hundreds of engine components to be removed, cleaned, repaired and reassembled, as well as increased availability of GSEs and tool control. Hear how the technology can provide airline M&E divisions with full real-time visibility into their component-tracking processes, increasing efficiency and safety through process visibility.

10 Nov, 2015 3:00 pm

Retail Chain Rolls Out RFID Throughout Entire Supply Chain

A leading retailer with 150 stores has implemented RFID from production to shopper. In order to deal with the current economic environment and technological challenges demanded by omnichannel shopping, this private-label retailer decided to increase the efficiency of its entire operations using RFID technology. Learn how the technology is being employed from source tagging through inbound RFID receiving, outbound RFID shipping, RFID sales processes in the store, RFID EAS and omnichannel RFID handheld activities.

10 Nov, 2015 10:05 am

From Innovation to Information—Expanding the Value of RFID Solutions

RFID continues to work its way into our business processes. The past year has been characterized by increasing deployments, rising growth projections and a recognition of the clear benefits that can result from RFID solutions. From retail to health care to manufacturing and beyond, organizations are using various types of RF and sensor technologies in a growing number of form factors to drive new levels of efficiency and productivity. As Zebra’s director of European business development, Pankaj Shukla is in a unique position to discuss this momentum, as he shares his perspective on where we’ve been, where we are going and the importance of innovation—and information—to the future of the RFID solution set.

10 Nov, 2015 3:40 pm

Beyond Cool: RFID Technology Disentangles Cryopreservation Storage and Management

Cryopreservation organizations are facing many challenges in the way they store, track, handle and manage bio-material. As storage facilities increase, the pressure escalates to implement efficient handling processes, secure access and tighten inventory controls—including complying with government mandates. During this presentation, HID Global will present the most advanced RFID solution designed to survive harsh cold and liquid nitrogen conditions. Additionally, learn how to untangle the manual mess to manage materials, and how organizations can get a grip on accurate inventory, access samples quickly and reduce human error.

10 Nov, 2015 2:20 pm

River Island Uses RFID to Improve Visibility and Combat Loss

Fashion brand River Island operates more than 350 stores throughout Europe, the Philippines and the Middle East, as well as a website that ships to more than 100 countries worldwide. This session will cover River Island’s use of RFID from trial to rollout. Hear how the trials have been implemented, the benefits and learnings the company has obtained, and the next steps of the project.

10 Nov, 2015 3:40 pm

GS1 UK Update: Supporting a Global Approach to Adoption

The existence and promotion of the GS1 EPC RFID standard since 2005 has in no small way contributed to the wider adoption of RFID in the retail industry, particularly in the apparel and general merchandise sectors. In this presentation, GS1 UK’s Andy Robson will review the industry trends driving RFID adoption in the United Kingdom and throughout Europe, and discuss key lessons learned. He will also share the latest GS1 standards developments, including tools for supporting new implementations.