RFID World 2007, being held from March 26-28 at the Gaylord Texan Resort in Dallas, TX, is where the industry meets face-to-face to generate awareness, leads, and sales of RFID and associated technology. Offering over 100 presentations of leading end-users and integrators, six Special Interest Seminars, and over 200 demonstrating track-and-trace technology suppliers, RFID World is the largest gathering of industry specialists, customers, and perspective integrators. Visit www.rfid-world.com/rfid07.
AND THE AWARD GOES TO...
The results have been announced for the RFID Excellence in Business Awards administered by RFID Revolution.
Excellence in RFID Implementation
The winner of this year's award for Excellence in RFID Implementation goes to the team of Mercy Medical Center, Edwards Lifesciences, and WaveMark, Inc. This application involved the use of WaveMark's 13.56 MHz RFID solution to track costly consumables, like stents, within Mercy's Catheterization Lab. The application was impressive for the degree of information shared between Mercy and Edwards and for the promising results - such as a projected 30% reduction in high-cost inventory, annual labor savings of approximately 400 hours, and reduced waste of perishable product. We hope that the Mercy Medical example paves the way for increased innovation and adoption of RFID within the healthcare industry.
Excellence in RFID Pilot
The winner of the Excellence in RFID Pilot award is the team of Information Mediary Corporation and Evidencia LLP for their work with Rio Blanco farms in Chile. The Evidencia pilot involved tracking the location and temperature of avocados during production and transit from Rio Blanco farms in Chile to the U.S., using IMC's Log-ic ThermAssureRF semi-passive 13.56 MHz RFID Temperature logger.
This pilot demonstrated the reliability of Evidencia's solution to provide total traceability of the fruit from the fields to the end customer Green Giant fruit subsidiary, Echo Farms. This project produced 100% read rates throughout the four-week process and 6,000-mile journey, in spite of challenging temperature and humidity conditions. The pilot clearly demonstrated the value of RFID technology in the cold chain for perishable goods.
Excellence in RFID Technology
The winner for this year's Excellence in RFID Technology Award is ADASA, Inc. ADASA's PAD3500 is a low-cost, wearable, mobile encoder that supports the encoding of tags anywhere, anytime. This ingenious device works in conjunction with ADASA's SmartCartridge, which enables the hands-free loading and encoding of RF tags. The solution has already demonstrated business value in a pilot with Freedom Shopping, which recognized a labor reduction of up to 50%. The ADASA approach makes RFID a practical, cost-effective option for businesses which still rely on manual and hand-picking processes and should help to more broadly expand the adoption of RFID.
Visionary of the Year
The winner of the RFID Visionary of the Year award is Dr. Chris Diorio, Chairman and Chief Technical Officer of Impinj. There were several reasons for selecting Dr. Diorio and Impinj for RFID Visionary of the year. First, Dr. Diorio was a key contributor in developing practical standards for the RFID industry through his leadership as Chair of the EPCglobal Hardware Action Group, or HAG. Second, Dr. Diorio's company, Impinj, has been the world leader in producing usable Gen 2 silicon. Dr. Diorio brought new ideas in the area of near-field UHF communications. His leadership has helped overcome some of the environmental challenges to RFID, such as metal or water, to produce working solutions, facilitating the migration of supply-chain solutions beyond the pallet and down to item-level tracking.
Most Innovative RFID Application
The winner of the Most Innovative RFID Application goes to Texas Instruments (TI) for their use of RFID in animal tracking for the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). The project involved tracking white-lipped peccaries, a type of wild pig, in the Amazon for the WWF, using a passive, low-frequency RFID ear tag. This RFID solution was less invasive and 100 times less expensive than GPS options. The WWF is using the information to better understand animal behavior to conserve the species and its habitat. This application stood out based on TI's ability to cost-effectively address the very distinct challenges posed in tracking a wild animal in a harsh, non-controlled environment. While this project was unique in a number of ways, it also demonstrated the potential of RFID to operate reliably in challenging application environments.
Seminar Schedule for Wednesday, March 28
TRACK ONE
Infrastructure: Hardware/Systems/Design and Deployment
| 8:00: | Is Your ERP Vendor on Track with RFID? |
| 8:30: | Eliminating Footsteps - True Business Process Integration |
| 9:00: | Battery-Assisted Passive RFID |
| 9:30: | The Myth of RFID and Global Trade |
| 10:00: | RFID in the Cold Chain - Leveraging RFID for Improved Supply Chain Metrics |
TRACK TWO
Software and Data Management
| 8:00: | Serialization and Simple Data Management in an RFID-Enabled World |
| 8:30: | Serialization, Compliance, and RFID enabled Business Process Transformation: A View into the Pharmaceutical Industry |
| 9:30: | Product Serialization - Enabling Anti-Counterfeiting and Product Safety in the Pharmaceuticals Supply Chain |
TRACK THREE
Industry Focused RFID Application Areas and Use Cases
| 8:00: | RFID Industry Focused Case Studies: Business Transformation with a Positive ROI |
| 8:30: | AmerisourceBergen Corp, a Case Study in "Leveraging Track-and-Trace Framework for Pedigree Compliance and Generating ROI" |
| 9:30: | Leveraging a Robust RFID Solution Platform for Industry Business Value |
| 10:00: | RFID Solutions: Proven Pathway to ROI |
TRACK FOUR
Business Process Improvement
| 8:00: | Case Study: Daisy Brand and RFID Business Process Integration with Inventory Management |
| 8:30: | Enhance Your RFID Enterprise with Event Management and Business Intelligence |
| 9:00: | Greater Internal Visibility and Operational Efficiency Through RFID |
| 9:30: | Case Study: RFID in Defense and Aerospace Parts Tracking |
| 10:00: | Edge Computing Platforms - Innovative Capabilities through Item-Level Visibility |
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| 10:30 - 11:00: | NETWORKING BREAK |
| 11:00 - 11:30: | KEYNOTE ADDRESS |
| 11:30 - 12:15: | GENERAL SESSION: An End-user Perspective: Overcoming Challenges and Driving to an RFID Solution |
| 12:15 - 1:00: | KEYNOTE PANEL: RFID Technology Rapid Fire Roundtable |
TRACK FIVE
ITEM-LEVEL TRACKING
| 2:00: | RFID Enabled Smart Packaging in Pharmaceuticals |
| 2:30: | RFID and Product Authentication |
| 3:00: | Emerging Technologies and Opportunities for Item-Level RFID |
| 3:30: | RFID Textile Tags: Embedded UHF Transponders Made with Cloth |
TRACK SIX
Asset Management
| 2:00: | Implementing Closed-Loop Asset Tracking using RFID/RTLS Technologies - Business Justification, Case Studies, and Lessons Learned |
| 2:30: | The Business Case for Total Asset and Inventory Management |
| 3:00: | Utilizing Long Range Active RFID for Asset Tracking |
| 3:30: | New, Proven Methods to Increase Productivity and Reduce Costs Through Wireless Material Handling Resource Management |
TRACK SEVEN
Privacy, Security, and Personal ID
| 2:00: | Policy Considerations for Contactless Payment, Identity Management, and Retail RFID Deployments |
| 2:30: | ECC RFID Security for Item-level Tagging |
| 3:00: | RFID Security and Privacy: Get the Facts |
| 3:30: | RFID in Life Safety and Security |
TRACK EIGHT
Complying With RFID Mandates
| 2:00: | How RFID Improves the U.S. Army Supply Chain |
| 2:30: | Why Automated Source Tagging is More Cost Efficient |
| 3:00: | RFID is Feasible for Small Businesses |
| 3:30: | The DoD's RFID Program: Policy, Implementation Plan, Objectives, and The Way Ahead |
TRACK NINE
Tags and Readers
| 2:00: | The Five Success Factors for 2007 Item-Level RFID Deployments |
| 2:30: | From Pilot to Production: Practical Considerations in Your RFID Deployment |
| 3:00: | Hibiki Project and the Next RFID Generation |
| 3:30: | Emerging Tag Technology: MEMS/Nano/RFID |
| 4:00: | CONFERENCE CONCLUDES |
