12:00 pm

Preconference Seminars Open/Working Lunch

Working Lunch: RFID Basics
New to RFID? Here's your opportunity to gain a basic introduction to the fundamentals of radio frequency identification. 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. This session will also include a very brief overview of the EPCglobal network, the future of ISO standards, ETSI reader regulations and the latest standardization efforts worldwide. Finally, the relationship between different standards in the areas of RFID and EPC, including the latest EPC Gen 2 standard, will be presented.

Speaker:

Mark Roberti, Founder and Editor, RFID Journal LLC

1:00 pm

Preconference Seminars Continue

RFID Journal University

5:00 pm

Preconference Concludes

7:30 am

Continental Breakfast

8:30 am

Welcome and Introduction

Speaker:

Mark Roberti, Founder and Editor, RFID Journal LLC

8:45 am

General Session:
Real-World RFID for Supply-Chain Optimization

Senior executives need to understand RFID’s growing importance for supply chain efficiency, inventory accuracy and reverse logistics throughout the lifecycle of each product. Using RFID to enhance its retail replenishment strategy, a well known agricultural company can now track its products with unprecedented levels of granularity, utilizing item-level tagging across its enterprise. In this session, the company will share how it employs RFID to make the most efficient and effective use of existing resources and how it developed this strategy.

9:30 am

Opening Keynote:
Bombardier Uses RFID to Improve Passenger Rail Service

Bombardier Transportation, a global leader in rail equipment manufacturing and servicing, is using RFID to improve passenger rail service, as well as to find synergies within its rail manufacturing group. In an effort to improve worker safety, one project calls for the use of ultra-wideband (UWB) RFID to track cars in a depot and alert track inspectors to oncoming trains. Another involves employing RFID to manage the configuration of rail cars for customers, and to automate the tedious and time-consuming process of tracking serialized components. In this session, hear how Bombardier Transportation evaluates potential projects, why it chose to move forward with these two in particular, and where it might deliver additional benefits in the future.

Speaker:

Keith Sheardown, General Manager, Technology Solutions, Bombardier Transportation

10:15 am

Refreshment Break on Exhibit Floor

10:45 am

General Session:
Taking EPC RFID to the Next Level

A global retailer has been a leader in adopting EPC RFID in its supply chain. In this session, you will hear how the company is deploying the technology in a two-pronged approach within two of its divisions. You’ll hear why the company has chosen this strategy, how it is rolling out the technology in the U.S. and worldwide, and what benefits suppliers can expect to achieve by leveraging EPC and other GS1 standards to improve supply chain operations and sales.

11:35 am

Sponsored Breakout Sessions

Achieving Internal Efficiencies:
Using RFID to Manage Product Inspections

PeakWorks, a Canadian provider of fall-protection equipment, training and inspection services, is employing radio frequency identification to better manage the process of inspecting equipment critical to protecting employees working at heights. PeakWorks is adding the RFID tags into small, enclosed pockets on harnesses and other products before they are shipped to customers. Each tag includes such information as the customer's name, the item's date of manufacture, the date shipped, an inspection schedule, the type of inspection the product requires and any other data mandated by regulations from the U.S. Department of Labor Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA), as well as by such Canadian agencies as the Ontario Ministry of Labor.

Speaker:

Gabriele Fusco, President, PeakWorks

Takeaways:

• How the RFID system automates the inspection process, saving time and money in the field
• Insights into how customers can benefit from the system, by giving them access to such important information as inspections and electronic versions of the certificates

Enhancing Traceability:
Using RFID to Identify and Track Livestock

A commercial dairy farm first began employing RFID approximately four years ago, when the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) began investigating the technology to monitor poultry and livestock populations so it could more quickly and effectively trace animal diseases to the source in the event of a breakout. Although the USDA has not yet mandated the use of an animal identification system, the company has tagged more than 6,000 dairy cows with passive RFID transponders encoded with unique ID numbers. Learn how the identification system has saved the farm's workers countless hours previously spent searching for and treating cows, while also improving its animal records and boosting milk production.

Takeaways:

• The benefits of utilizing RFID to replace a manual, paper-based system requiring workers to visually search for numbers printed on ear tags
• How radio frequency identification can be used in a breeding program

Improving Supply Chain Efficiencies:
Drugstore Chain Uses RFID to Tag Promotional Displays

A large drugstore chain recently completed a nationwide installation of an RFID tracking solution for promotional displays in all but a few of its 5,000 stores. The deployment, which began in 2007, involves a major cosmetics firm, as well as other consumer packaged goods (CPG) vendors. In this session, learn how the RFID system has enabled the drugstore chain and its CPG suppliers to manage the promotional displays more effectively, thereby increasing sales of the promoted products.

Takeaways:

• How the CPG companies achieve increased sales from promotions by using the data derived from the system
• Future plans, including the use of an upgraded version of the system that would allow RFID interrogators to be utilized with EPC Gen 2 UHF tags rather than the proprietary semi-passive tags currently in use

Advancing Health Care:
Using RFID to Track Cardiac Device Inventories

A busy cardiac catheterization and electrophsiology lab is performing more than 5,000 procedures per year, with total on-hand inventory valued at more than $1 million on any given day. The cath lab deployed an RFID-enabled inventory-management solution to track and manage implantable devices, which can carry price tags of $1,000 to $30,000. Prior to implementing the RFID solution, the hospital relied on its clinical staff to manually track inventory. In this session, find out how the facility has discovered a better way to track and manage inventory levels, consignment stock, expired products and recall notifications.

Takeaways:

• How RFID helped to maintain optimum inventory levels and track bulk purchases
• Using RFID to improve workflow for front-line staff members in a hospital setting

1:00 pm

Lunch on exhibit floor

Achieving Internal Efficiencies:
Using RFID to Ensure the Secure Destruction of Data

With the secure destruction of records a top priority for many companies, a leading waste-management firm in western Canada has implemented an RFID data-collection system to track confidential paper records from the point of collection to final destruction. In this session, hear how the materials are removed from customer sites, and how each transfer is recorded using a handheld RFID data-collection device. Once the material is delivered to a secure warehouse, it is promptly destroyed. Automated invoices are then issued back to the customer, as well as Certificates of Destruction, with no administrative effort on the part of the staff.

Takeaways:

• How to employ RFID for automated data collection
• The importance of having an RFID system that is completely integrated with scheduling and billing data

Enhancing Traceability:
Safeguarding the Food Supply

Food-supply safety is a top concern for many consumers. Recent recalls have included E. coli contamination of packaged salads, cantaloupes and unpasteurized juices. RFID can play a critical role in recalls, enabling companies to recall only products that are potentially tainted. This could save millions of dollars, protect the reputation of valuable brands and ensure public safety. Learn about the costs and benefits of utilizing RFID to track goods for potential recalls, as well as the technology infrastructure needed to make that happen.

Takeaways:

• The benefits of using RFID to conduct targeted recalls
• How to set up a system for capturing information needed for safe and effective recalls

Improving Supply Chain Efficiencies:
How Retailers Benefit from Using RFID to Improve Inventory Accuracy

For the past several years, the University of Arkansas' RFID Research Center has been studying the impact various retailers have achieved by employing radio frequency identification to improve inventory accuracy and replenishment. The center has now aggregated this information, and plans to provide baseline data revealing the benefits the typical apparel retailer can expect to achieve with RFID. Attendees will also learn how the technology can be applied to improving inventory accuracy, as well as reducing the out-of-stock problem that has long plagued retailers.

Speaker:

Bill Hardgrave, Director, RFID Research Center, University of Arkansas

Takeaways:

• Baseline data and new insights regarding the ROI that apparel retailers can expect to achieve with RFID
• The requirements for applying radio frequency identification to out-of-stocks

Advancing Health Care:
RFID for Health-Care Quality Improvement: Innovation at the Point of Care

Sunnybrook, a large tertiary-care academic health-sciences center in Toronto, recently committed the use of RFID technology for research-based, hospital-quality improvement in Canada. In this session, hear how the center has committed to a hospital-wide, RFID-based RTLS system, which will be capable of monitoring many aspects of quality, safety and process improvement for patient care, and of providing scientific data on innovative improvement interventions.

Speakers:

Katie Dainty, Program Manager, Centre for Health Services Sciences, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
Dr. Dan Zikovitz, , Centre for Health Services Sciences, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
Dr. Merrick Zwarenstein, Senior Scientist, Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences

Takeaways:

• How radio frequency identification is being used in a monitoring and reminder system for hand-washing at the point of care
• The effects of RFID-based systems for health-care quality improvement

Achieving Internal Efficiencies:
Controlling Quality and Streamlining Production With RFID

A manufacturer of agricultural equipment is employing passive RFID at one of its factories to monitor work-in-process (WIP) and ensure parts are at the right place at the proper time. The company has also deployed an RFID system in conjunction with its manufacturing execution system (MES), to improve production efficiencies and accuracies at another factory. Hear how these systems are helping the firm lower costs and improve its manufacturing operations.

Takeaways:

• The benefits of utilizing an RFID-enabled WIP-monitoring process in a manufacturing environment
• Understanding how ultrahigh-frequency (UHF) passive RFID systems can improve logistics and tracking

Enhancing Traceability:
Taking Product Recalls to the Next Level

Product recalls have dramatic implications for the Canadian retail sector. Current media and public attention to recalls presents both a significant challenge and an opportunity for the retail community. As such, GS1 Canada is launching a standards-based recall and withdrawal system for supporting the complex challenges associated with effective product recalls. The organization is collaborating with industry representatives to integrate best practices into a recall system that builds and improves upon existing industry practices for an expanded scope and reach to all points along a supply chain—thus enabling more rapid, efficient recalls. This panel session will highlight the results of a recent pilot conducted by GS1 Canada and the retail and manufacturing communities.

Moderator:

Tim White, Director, Product Development, GS1 Canada

Improving Supply Chain Efficiencies:
How to Build Your Own Inventory-Management RFID Portal

You've probably already seen several RFID demonstrations, so instead of displaying a working portal, we'll build one right before your eyes—and show how easily you can do it yourself. Our goal will be to help you achieve a working portal within a few days of returning home, enabling you to test inventory-management scenarios on your own.

Speaker:

Amninder Singh Randhawa, Technical Director, RFID Centre of Excellence's Technical Expertise and Software Team, Academia RFID

Advancing Health Care:
Pharmaceutical Company Combats Counterfeiting and Diversion With RFID

A global pharmaceutical company was one of the first businesses to implement large-scale item-level tagging. In 2008, its RFID team implemented a third-party RFID solution to accommodate item- and case-level RFID tagging, and to aggregate data on products not packaged at its RFID-enabled plant. In this session, hear how the company is using the data captured on the more than 6 million bottles being tagged annually, and how RFID is helping the company to combat potential counterfeiting and diversion.

Takeaways:

• How the pharmaceutical company implemented its RFID project
• Using radio frequency identification to guarantee patient safety

4:00 pm

Conference Concludes