RFID Journal announced today that industry leaders from Cisco Systems, Motorola Solutions, Intel and Bell Helicopter will be featured as keynote session speakers at RFID Journal LIVE! 2012, the company’s 10th annual conference and exhibition focused on radio frequency identification technologies. The event will be held on Apr. 3-5, 2012, at the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin resort, located in Orlando, Fla.
Cisco’s keynote session—presented by Ted Baumuller, the company’s director of IT and marketing for Cisco.com, and Maryanne Flynn, Cisco’s director of operations—will discuss the benefits that the firm has achieved from tracking IT assets. Cisco Systems has long been one of the world’s most sophisticated users of information technology. Managing that infrastructure, from a physical standpoint, can be challenging. Attendees at LIVE! will learn how Cisco has reduced the amount of time required for workers to perform inventory counts, as well as additional benefits that it achieves from the system (see Cisco Tracks IT Assets Via RFID).
A second keynote session will be presented by Paul Steinberg, Motorola Solutions’ chief technology officer. Steinberg will discuss global market trends and their impact on the RFID solution set, and will also explain the business applications, the benefits being realized by companies worldwide, and the expected evolution of technologies vital to meeting the needs of the global enterprise.
Intel has been exploring the use of embedded RFID systems in the electronics sector. Shahrokh Shahidzadeh, the company’s senior principal technologist, will discuss how embedded RFID can deliver new capabilities and benefits to electronics manufacturers, retailers, corporate IT departments and service providers. Attendees will hear about Intel’s progress and its plans for this year, and will also get a glimpse of RFID’s future in electronics.
Aaron Druyvesteyn, the manager of logistics at Bell Helicopter Textron, a wholly owned subsidiary of Textron, will explain why the maker of customized aircraft for military and commercial customers worldwide implemented an RFID-enabled solution at nine manufacturing facilities, and how the system eliminated the need to physically scan parts arriving at or leaving each facility. Attendees will learn how Bell has already recouped 120 percent of its investment through the use of RFID.
LIVE! 2012 will also feature two general-session panels. One, hosted by Bill Hardgrave, the dean and Wells Fargo professor at Auburn University’s College of Business, will focus on the benefits of item-level tracking within the retail supply chain. Members of the panel will include Bill Connell, the senior VP of logistics and operations at Macy’s, and Stacey Shulman, American Apparel‘s VP of technology.
Panelists at another general session will discuss what has been learned during the past 10 years of RFID adoption. Sitting on the panel will be Carlo K. Nizam, Airbus‘ head of value chain visibility and RFID; Paul Peters, the deputy assistant secretary of defense for supply chain integration (DASD SCI); and Sanjay Sarma, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and a cofounder of MIT’s Auto-ID Center.
In addition, LIVE! will include four industry-specific and four how-to conference tracks, as well as nine in-depth preconference seminars and workshops, fast-track training, the RFID Journal Awards, and two co-located events: IEEE RFID 2012 and The AIDC 100: RFID and Bar-Code Co-existence. What’s more, the conference will feature exhibits and demonstrations conducted by the industry’s leading technology firms.