Frontline's International Supply Chain Week Conference & Expo: from how-to to how-not-to, you'll find it all at the 2004 Frontline Solutions Conference

Frontline Solutions, August, 2004 by Brooke K. Peterson

One indicator that an emerging technology is becoming mainstream is the number of companies that want to teach you about it. This is true today for radio frequency identification (RFID) technology. Whether you're an end user or an equipment or service provider marketing technology solutions, someone out there has something to tell you about RFID.

With pilots underway and full-scale implementation the next step for leading-edge companies, now is a good time to make sure you have a current understanding of what the technology can--and more importantly cannot--do.

"On-the job training doesn't cut it anymore," says Bruce Philpot, managing director for the center for automatic identification at Ohio University and program advisor for the 2004 Frontline Solutions Conference & Expo. "The jobs are changing as rapidly as the tools used to do those jobs. Osmosis doesn't hack it. Those of us raised on pencils and clipboards (and later, keyboards) as data entry tools have made the transition to bar coding, or we've been displaced to less desirable jobs. Now we're learning a new language, a new set of tools, and a host of new acronyms for RFID technology."

Some of the companies furthest down the path of RFID integration will be telling their stories at the Frontline Solutions Conference, September 13-15, 2004, at the Navy Pier in Chicago (for a complete program listing, visit www.front lineexpo.com).

Learning from Early Adopters

The past few years have been filled with pronouncements of the great benefits RFID will bring and how it will revolutionize the supply chain. The next hurdle for companies is learning not only how to implement the technology into existing systems, but how to get internal benefits from doing so.

As we put together the program, people asked if they could present what they felt were the impediments to implementation and adoption of RFID. These happen to be the very people who have been the biggest proponents of RFID. And that signals a great change in where we are in the adoption cycle: We've moved past technology debates and on to discussing how to get it done.

Of course, you cannot learn all the effects of RFID on your internal systems until you begin using the technology. You may begin a pilot with a few assumptions about how you'll benefit and quickly discover additional benefits--and challenges. But now is a great time to learn from companies that have paved the way.

The Frontline conference program will give you plenty of information about every aspect of RFID implementation. Many technology companies, solution providers, and integrators now have extensive experience working in multiple industries to overcome implementation roadblocks. Companies from around the globe will offer case studies on how they've solved the same problems you'll be facing. Other organizations will speak about how they propose to help in global adoption.

"Actual, working implementations with all the successes and stumbles associated with new processes need to be dissected for the good of the next wave of adopters," says Frontline conference program advisor Scott Medford, vice president for global business development at Intermec Technologies Corp.

Meeting the Need

With this in mind, the 2004 Frontline Solutions Conference & Expo again looked to evolve its educational program to meet current market needs. We found that it's impossible to speak about any of the automatic identification and data capture technologies, or any specific industry, in a vacuum.

Advisor Philpot of Ohio University explains: "Pick a supply chain, any supply chain--retail, automotive, aerospace, industrial/commercial, defense-related. All of the players in these supply chains are being required to 'do more, do it faster, and do it more accurately.' But suppliers, distributors, carriers, and customers now have a growing suite of technology tools to help them execute business processes. That suite includes bar code printing, scanning, and verification; RFID encode and decode; biometrics; card technology; contact memory; voice data entry; and other tools."

Frontline 2004 will help make sure that you move ahead without leaving important tools and methods behind. Whether you're getting ready to implement or just watching the market, we've got the knowledge you need. Hope to see you there.

Brooke K. Peterson is co-chair of the 2004 Frontline Solutions Conference and principal at Convene Inc.