Item-Level RFID: The Road to ROI

The Second 2008 Item-Level RFID Forum
September 9-10, 2008
University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas

 Attend Item-Level RFID: The Road to ROI and hear results of a 3-phase project to investigate RFID’s feasibility, utilization, and potential ROI. The research indicates greater RFID benefits can be derived from item-level tagging and was undertaken by the University of Arkansas RFID Research Center with the combined efforts of VICS, CSCMP, Procter and Gamble, and Dillard’s.

The major use cases and feasibility results of the study were presented in the initial forum to representatives from major companies such as Clorox, Wal-Mart, American Apparel, Smucker’s, Avery Dennison, General Mills, Macy’s and Hewlett-Packard. The first forum left these attendees asking for more, as many questions remained unanswered:

• What is ILT’s potential impact on ROI?
• To what extent should individual businesses implement item-level tagging?
• How can RFID improve inventory accuracy, locate products, and prevent loss?
• What are the advantages of RFID over barcodes?
• How does ITL benefit the supply chain outside of the store?
• Are there additional beneficial uses being considered?

September’s forum takes up where its well-received predecessor left off. It addresses these RFID concerns and more with an examination of its ROI through the benefits and costs studied in real-world settings. Discussions, tours of an RFID lab, and hands-on demonstrations provide participants multiple opportunities to explore and consider:

• Using RFID as an electronic article surveillance (EAS)—to prevent loss and locate items
• Using RFID for more frequent, efficient and accurate inventory counting
• Using RFID to reduce out of stocks
• Using RFID to read rates, determine shipment/delivery accuracy and efficiency
• Turning RFID data into useful information to benefit both company and customer