Wisconsin RFID Conference to Drive State Technology Adoption

MADISON, Wis.--June 2, 2004--Ever since Wal-Mart and the U.S. Department of Defense directed their product suppliers to integrate radio frequency identification (RFID) into the supply chain by 2005, companies have been scrambling to learn how. These tiny computer chips, or "smart tags," transmit wireless data and have the potential to communicate the moment a product leaves a manufacturers warehouse, to the time it's purchased by a consumer.

Business and technology leaders can learn how RFID technologies are poised to revolutionize inventory tracking through the supply chain at the Wisconsin RFID Conference at the Country Inn Conference Center in Waukesha, Wis., Thursday, June 17, 2004.

RFID communication will help businesses reduce costs and increase productivity and the flow of products through the supply chain. This will be a fundamental shift in the way industry tracks, traces and manages assets. That's why even businesses that aren't mandated to implement RFID technology want to know more. It will have a major impact on manufacturing, retail, transportation, distribution, healthcare and pharmaceutical industries, just to name a few.

The conference will feature RFID practices and technologies on the national level with speakers from International Paper, Rockwell Automation, and many others. There also are two parallel business and technology tracks to help companies find out when and where it makes sense to adopt RFID, discuss case studies based on industry pilots, and share practical strategies developed by the UW E-Business Consortium RFID Industry Workgroup.

A pre-conference workshop on RFID fundamentals will provide basic knowledge of this emerging technology. The fundamentals workshop begins at 8:00 a.m. The main conference will be from 10:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

The Consortium's RFID Industry Workgroup was formed in 2003 to help Wisconsin companies understand the issues and challenges associated with RFID application in building a business case and implementing the technology. There are more than 30 member companies in the group, many of which will be represented at the conference.

The Wisconsin RFID Conference is sponsored by e!nnovate, a premiere association for technology professionals based in Milwaukee, Wis., and the UW E-Business Institute, a campus-wide initiative to help enhance economic development of Wisconsin industry clusters through adoption of e-business strategies, technologies and practices.