8:00 am

CompTIA RFID+ Training & Certification

This fast-track CompTIA RFID+ certification preparation course will provide one day of intensive, instructor-led training using state-of -the-art RFID equipment, and will include the RFID+ Certification Exam. Attendees will receive a CD-ROM containing RFID+ practice tests. Those unable to take the exam during the conference and exhibition will get a voucher allowing them to take the exam at a later date.

12:00 pm

Preconference Seminars Open/Working Lunch

General Session: RFID Basics
New to RFID? Here's your opportunity to gain a basic introduction to the fundamentals of the technology. The differences between the various classes of tags will be explained, including active and passive systems, and the need for additional IT systems to build upon RFID in real-world applications will be highlighted. The session will also include a brief overview of the EPCglobal network, the future of ISO standards, ETSI reader regulations and the latest standardization efforts worldwide. Finally, the relationship between various standards in the area of RFID and EPC, including the latest EPC Gen 2 standard, will be presented.

1:00 pm

Preconference Seminars Continue

RFID Journal University
RFID in the Energy Sector

5:00 pm

Preconferences Conclude

5:15 pm

Welcome and Introduction

Speakers:

Mark Roberti, Founder and Editor, RFID Journal LLC
Art Smith, President & CEO, EPCglobal Canada

5:45 pm

Opening Keynote:
The Benefits of RFID-Enabled Collaboration

One major retailer and several of its suppliers have been employing RFID to reduce retail shelf out-of-stocks, and to improve inventory profitability. This is the largest rollout of the technology in Canada's retailing sector to date. Hear about some of the lessons they have learned during the deployment, as well as the insights the supply chain partners are getting from the data.

Takeaways:

• Insights into how one retailer is utilizing the technology and some of the lessons it has learned in rolling out in Canada
• Hear how some of the retailer's suppliers are using the data they get back from the store

6:30 pm

Opening Reception Begins

8:00 pm

Reception Ends

7:30 am

Continental Breakfast

8:30 am

Welcome and Introduction

Speakers:

Mark Roberti, Founder and Editor, RFID Journal LLC
Art Smith, President & CEO, EPCglobal Canada

8:45 am

Opening Keynote:
The Benefits of RFID-Enabled Collaboration

One major retailer and several of its suppliers have been employing RFID to reduce retail shelf out-of-stocks, and to improve inventory profitability. This is the largest rollout of the technology in Canada's retailing sector to date. Hear about some of the lessons they have learned during the deployment, as well as the insights the supply chain partners are getting from the data.

Takeaways:

• Insights into how one retailer is utilizing the technology and some of the lessons it has learned in rolling out in Canada
• Hear how some of the retailer's suppliers are using the data they get back from the store

9:30 am

General Session:
RFID-Enabling Your Existing Enterprise Application

Through an understanding of real-world case studies, explore how others have benefited by RFID-enabling existing enterprise applications. Learn how to leverage the benefits of RFID technology to create a more responsive end-to-end supply chain, and how closed-loop RFID solutions can ready your enterprise for supply chain optimization. Hear how passive and active RFID, combined with real-time location systems (RTLS), can be introduced without disruption to your existing business processes.

Takeaways:

• An understanding of how RFID-enabling existing applications can deliver value today
• Insights into cost-effective ways to RFID-enable applications

11:00 am

General Session:
RFID in the Oil and Gas Sector

More and more companies in the oil and gas sector are deploying RFID to track critical components. But the technology's performance when tracking metal parts can be inconsistent. In this session, discover how one oil company is employing RFID successfully, and how it overcame problems tracking metal parts.

Takeaways:

•  An understanding of how RFID can be used to track oil drilling and other mission-critical equipment
• How to overcome problems tracking metal parts

11:45 am

Sponsored Breakout Sessions

12:25 pm

Lunch in Exhibit Hall

Manufacturing/Operations:
Canadian Automaker Adopts RFID System to Keep Parts Flowing

One automaker is using active RFID tags to track nearly 1,000 parts-filled trucks arriving at an assembly plant. Instead of bringing in massive amounts of parts and storing them at the complex, the company will be able to have parts arrive on the day they are scheduled to be used for assembly. Learn how the system was set up, and how it reduces inventory carrying costs.

Takeaways:

• The benefits of using RFID to track parts arriving at a factory
• How to reduce inventory carrying costs with RFID

Supply Chain/Inventory Management:
Canadian Freight Courier Rolls Out RFID

One Canadian freight courier added an RFID-based tracking system to its operations so it could maintain an inventory on the cargo it stores and transports for its clients. These capabilities benefit both the courier and its customers by providing a higher level of control and security for these goods. Learn how the system was developed, and how it delivers an ROI.

Takeaways:

• Insights into how RFID can be employed to track shipments and inventory
• The benefits of utilizing an RFID-based system to track shipments

Retail:
The Benefits of Using RFID instead of Cash

A Canadian retailer has introduced an RFID payment system to speed up transactions during busy hours. The system has increased the number of customers the firm can handle during peak periods, and has engendered greater customer loyalty. Learn how the system works, and why it delivers benefits to the retailer and customer.

Takeaways:

• Understanding the benefits of using RFID for quick payments
• How to implement an RFID payment scheme quickly and cost-effectively

2:35 pm

Movement from Room to Room

Manufacturing/Operations:
Factory Accelerates Vehicle Production Via Active RFID

An automotive joint venture is using an RFID real-time locating system to optimize operations at a plant that produces 250,000 vehicles each year. The system accelerates the processing of receiving parts deliveries and ensures that the proper parts are brought to the correct assembly line workstation in time.

Takeaways:

• Best practices for using real-time locating systems to increase production and reduce inventory
• The ROI of RFID in a logistics environment

Supply Chain/Inventory Management:
Log Maker Meets Mandates and Benefits Internally

Eager to reap the benefits of deploying RFID and getting greater visibility into its inventory and supply chain, a Canadian manufacturer of artificial fireplace logs was among the first companies to place RFID tags on cases and pallets of its logs for Wal-Mart in 2005. Learn how the company expanded the RFID system to benefit from the inventory visibility and data provided by Wal-Mart.

Takeaways:

• Insights into how to meet RFID tagging requirements and achieve internal benefits
• How to set up an automated system for tagging pallets and cases

Retail:
Doubling Retail Profits by Improving In-Store Labor Efficiency

In-store labor is the single largest cost of retailers, containing the biggest inefficiencies. Major areas of concern include shrinkage, out-of-stocks, turnover, the presence of outside employees, returns, backroom stock, in-store demos and waste; solving these inefficiencies by integrating RFID can enable a retailer to double profits at a cost lower than what it currently spends.

Speaker:

Robert G. Brown, Chairman of the Board, Spar Group

Takeaways:

•   Areas of in-store labor inefficiency RFID can improve—and by how much
•   Types of RFID equipment that are necessary and practical to use, and the payback from an implemented program

3:20 pm

Movement from Room to Room

Manufacturing/Operations:
Using RFID to Track Inspections for Industrial Equipment

A Canadian provider of slings utilized by cargo-lifting cranes has deployed a passive-tag system to track the maintenance and safety inspection process. Learn how this system, which replaces a manual tracking system, cuts costs and improves regulatory compliance.

Takeaways:

• Understanding the benefits of employing RFID with steel production
• Best practices for achieving high read rates within the validation process

Supply Chain/Inventory Management:
Finding Benefits in Meeting Customer RFID Mandates

A Montreal-based company that manufactures aircraft testing equipment and accessory kits realized the importance of implementing RFID in its supply chain in order to maintain its relationship with the U.S. Department of Defense. In this session, hear how the firm went through the implementation process and found business benefits in meeting the RFID tagging requirements.

Takeaways:

• Best practices for meeting RFID tagging mandates
• How to utilize RFID tags required by customers to improve internal inventory management

Retail:
Key Applications for Using RFID in Retail

Over the past two years, an increasing number of retailers have been deploying RFID technologies to improve the way they do business. In this session, discover where RFID is being used today to achieve real cost savings, or to increase sales, based on real-world implementations in North America, Europe and Asia.

Takeaways:

•  An understanding of the various applications on the market that can deliver value today by using RFID data
•  Ways to utilize RFID data to create business benefits today

4:10 pm

Day 1 Program Concludes

7:30 am

Continental Breakfast

8:30 am

Welcome Back Remarks

8:45 am

Opening Keynote:
RFID and Innovation

RFID and EPC are enabling technologies. What they enable depends on the creativity of the companies employing them. In this session, presenters will highlight four innovative uses of RFID technology and show how a variety of organizations are utilizing it in innovative ways to deliver value.

9:30 am

General Session:
RFID and Serialization Lead to New Levels of Value Generation

Across a variety of industries and process areas, RFID and serialization-based applications have evolved from point applications to integrated business-wide solutions. We are now witnessing the emergence of a new class of collaborative processes involving large-scale data exchange of RFID, unique identification and related business data. Learn how companies worldwide are already generating business value from these new solutions.

Takeaways:

• Insights into how RFID and serialization technologies deliver data enabling a new class of software applications
• An understanding of the many ways companies are using serialization of unique items to drive business value

10:00 am

Refreshment Break in Exhibit Hall

11:30 am

Sponsored Breakout Sessions

12:10 pm

Movement from Room to Room

Manufacturing/Operations:
Trailer Maker Employs RFID to Stay Lean

A real-time location system is helping a Canadian manufacturer of heavy-haul trailers track the time it takes to assemble, sandblast and paint two types of its logging trailers. They system supports a new lean manufacturing initiative the company launched to reduce the amount of inventory and products the facility has on hand at any particular time.

Takeaways:

• Insight into how RFID can be used to enhance a lean-manufacturing initiative
• How and where to deploy RFID readers to track inventory and work-in-process

Supply Chain/Inventory Management:
Consortium Offers Cold Storage Tagging

A group of logistics providers and hardware and software vendors have developed an RFID solution for tagging frozen foods. Learn what challenges they had to overcome to tag frozen products, and how they were able to do so. Find out the benefits that can be achieved by tracking frozen foods, and by monitoring their temperature as they move throughout the supply chain.

Takeaways:

• Insights into the benefits of tracking frozen foods from manufacturing to the store freezer
• How to overcome the challenges of tagging frozen foods

Retail:
Apparel Maker Manages Maternity Departments With Smart Displays in Stores

To help it track inventory and sales, one maker of maternity clothes is rolling out RFID-enabled fixtures to department stores in the United States and Canada. The company will supply tagged garments to the stores and use the smart-shelf technology solution to manage its maternity departments in 384 stores across both countries. Learn where the firm has seen early benefits, as well as the challenges it needed to overcome to make the system work.

Takeaways:

• Benefits of using RFID to track apparel shipments
• Insights into the challenge of tagging at the point of manufacture

1:00 pm

Lunch in Exhibit Hall

Manufacturing/Operations:
Uniform Firm Boosts Productivity With RFID-Guided Sortation

By automating the sorting of soiled linens and garments, a Canadian uniform service has reduced labor by 17 percent and increased capacity by 50 percent. In this session, hear how the company replaced its manual sortation of soiled items with an RFID-enabled automated system, and learn how a similar system can be deployed in a variety of industries, including recycling, parcel delivery and baggage handling.

Takeaways:

• The benefits of replacing manual sortation with automated systems
• How to set up automated sortation

Supply Chain/Inventory Management:
Canadian Airline Uses RFID for Visibility of Cargo Shipments

An airline in Canada has tested RFID in its cargo operations. The system was integrated with its shipping and receiving process to collect information, such as the number of pieces in a shipment, as well as route, weight, origin and final destination. In this session, learn how the company set up a system in the challenging airport environment, and how it benefits from having near-real-time visibility into cargo shipments.

Takeaways:

• How RFID can deliver greater visibility into the movement of cargo shipments
• How to overcome the challenges of tracking goods with a high-degree of accuracy in a challenging environment

Retail:
Combining RFID and Other Data to Drive Value in Retail

RFID data provides a new level of supply chain visibility, but this information alone won't solve all business problems or enable new efficiencies. In this session, a panel of experts will explain how RFID data can be used, and what additional information can be brought to bear to improve replenishment algorithms, streamline retail business processes and measure system performance more effectively.

3:10 pm

Movement from Room to Room

Manufacturing/Operations:
At Canadian Trailer Dealership, RFID Pays for Itself

A utility trailer dealership is employing an RFID system to track and locate more than 1,000 trailers on lots spanning 25 acres. The active RFID tags, affixed to the fronts of 48-foot-long and 53-foot-long trailers, help the dealership more easily locate the trailers and more accurately document inventory, thereby reducing errors and labor costs. The system has already generated a return on the company's investment.

Takeaways:

• How to track large assets over long distances
• Insights into how RFID can be used to track finished goods inventory

Supply Chain/Inventory Management:
Case Study: Using RFID to Track Liquor

A provincial government-owned liquor board studied the impact of RFID on its operational processes. In this session, hear an update on what the board has implemented after conducting a multi-year study, and learn the early results it has achieved by integrating RFID technology into its business processes.

Takeaways:

• The benefits of using RFID data to track shipments of high-value products, such as alcohol
• How to use software applications to turn RFID data into actionable information

Retail:
Doubling Retail Profits by Improving In-Store Labor Efficiency

In-store labor is the single largest cost of retailers, containing the biggest inefficiencies. Major areas of concern include shrinkage, out-of-stocks, turnover, the presence of outside employees, returns, backroom stock, in-store demos and waste; solving these inefficiencies by integrating RFID can enable a retailer to double profits at a cost lower than what it currently spends.

Takeaways:

• Areas of in-store labor inefficiency that can be improved by RFID—and by how much
• Types of RFID equipment that are necessary and practical to use, and the payback from an implemented program

3:55 pm

Conference Concludes