| | | RFID Summit booked for M-TEC
Hoping to help Southwest Michigan companies understand the business buzz and potential about Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology, a consortium will host an RFID Summit on Oct. 26 at the KVCC Michigan Technical Education Center (M-TEC).
The consortium includes organizations and enterprises involved in manufacturing,
produce marketing, information technology, and economic development.
The day-long event will feature keynote speakers from the U. S.
Department of Defense, Kent District Library in Grand Rapids, Grantex, and
the Produce Marketing Association.
According to Matthew Mace, the chief executive officer of BlueGranite, the idea for the summit grew out of a West Michigan RFID users group, attended regularly by 45 representatives from a variety of local companies.
"The interest has been very high, which is not surprising," Mace said.
"Organizations in our region, from manufacturing to agriculture to health care, recognize the tremendous industry potential that this type of technology can have and they want to understand and leverage it to their advantage."
As the Internet revolutionized how Americans live, work, play and communicate beginning in the early 1990s, observers are saying that RFID will have a similar impact as the 2000s continue.
Wal-Mart has become one of the catalysts for its development. It has adopted an RFID system for its asset-management and inventory-control purposes, and is also requiring that its top 50 suppliers move to RFID by a certain date. As the largest company in the nation, that will have more than a ripple effect because, to do business with Wal-Mart, an enterprise will have to be RFID-compliant.
RFID basically is taking the barcode on a product to the next level and will probably change, through RFID electronic chips, the way business is done not only in the United States but around the world.
In addition to manufacturing, there are implications in the health-care field, such as tracking down expensive wheelchairs that have not been returned or complex equipment whose location has been forgotten. Nurses and patients, equipped with RFID chips in “bracelets,” will be on the same wave length when it comes to proper medications and dosages. RFID-controlled medicine carts equate to greater security and can prevent double medications.
Truckers will no longer have to pull off interstates to check in at weigh stations because their loads' contents, tonnage and whereabouts will be tracked by RFID technology. Produce growers, such as the blueberry farmers in Southwest Michigan, will greatly profit from RFID because of the short after-picking lifespan of their crops. Loss by deterioration will decrease.
High-tech, complex machinery equipped with RFID chips can be better maintained because of signals about malfunctions, about the lack of some important lubricant, or some other kind of glitch.
The evolving technology about computer-chip transmissions through radio frequencies includes being able to activate or de-activate the miniscule controls at will.
Southwest Michigan First's Barry Broome said the event and other local efforts surrounding the RFID discussions are important to local businesses that want to stay competitive in their markets.
"Information technology is propelling our global economy forward at an
unprecedented pace,” Broome said. “No matter what industry you serve -- whether you're a new business or an entrenched corporate leader -- your company is only as
good as your technology.”
This summit and the RFID initiative that BlueGranite is spearheading with Western Michigan University and Flowserve Corp. will allow manufacturers and other businesses in Southwest Michigan “to get ahead of the technology curve,” Broome said. “And that can have a significant impact to their competitiveness, productivity and growth."
David Shires, executive director of what is being called the RFID Technology Center, said the initiative was started “after the group discovered the opportunity exists for West Michigan companies to become leaders in this field. RFID will have a huge impact on businesses in the coming years, and companies in West Michigan need to take advantage of it. The center's first objective is to help local businesses to become educated and understand what opportunities exist."
According to information analysts at IDC, a global market-intelligence
and advisory firm in the information-technology and telecommunications industries, 2004 will be a crucial year for RFID, with large-scale deployments bringing the technology into the mainstream.
Manufacturers and distributors of RFID are "scrambling" to meet the requirements of high-profile deployments from organizations such as Wal-Mart and the U. S. Department of Defense, IDC reports. The analyst group predicts that RFID
spending for the U. S. retail supply chain will grow from $91.5 million in 2003 to
nearly $1.3 billion in 2008.
Compliance is just one side of the coin, according to Bill Adams, director of new business development for global marketing at Flowserve Corp. "Companies who understand how to apply this to the development of new business services have the potential to lead their respective industries."
RFID systems can not only track shipments from supplier to customer, but
they can track items in a warehouse or an entire office building, as well as identify and record spikes in temperature or other handling changes. The potential impact to the manufacturer, Adams says, is limitless.
Attendees at the October summit will learn from case studies presented
by end-user organizations that will demonstrate how their respective organizations deployed RFID and are taking advantage of the technology. Vendors will be on hand along with a hands-on lab setup at the M-TEC.
Business executives and technology managers in manufacturing,
automotive, supply chain, agriculture, health care, pharmaceuticals, and
government can benefit from this event. The registration fee is
$195 and space is limited.
The deadline for registration is Oct. 18 by calling either (269) 353-1280 or applying online at http://www.rfidtechnologycenter.com
.
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