Issues in Adopting RFID in Supply Chain

RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) is an automatic identification technology that uses radio frequency. RFID has been used for a long time since World War II but not until recently, its applications were generally found in internal operations as a proprietary technology.

RFID has been proposed to use for materials handling - be able to identify the products/goods being handled. Barcode scanning is commonly used to establish the identity of goods. The high density of certain products (e.g., watches) presents difficulties in establishing the identification of products within a tolerable time frame. This latency of physical goods flow could be solved by using RFID technology.

RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) embedded with a product allows a unique identity to be imprinted. Transient information can be updated or changed during the transition throughout production systems, warehouses, airliners, trucks, distribution centers, retailers, and finally to the end customers. The impact of this technology goes far beyond the benefits gained by individual parties. With adoption of global identification standards such as the Electronic Product Code (EPC), the applicability of this technology can be felt from the supply chain, to the logistics chain, the distribution network and finally to the end-user.

The panelists will consist experts from the academic and from the industry to cover a wide range of interest in adopting RFID for supply chain. Issues related to the adoption will be discussed in the panel.

The target audience of the panel will be researchers, chief technologists, IT managers, and others who are interested in knowing how RFID can be adopted in supply chain.

There will be 5 panelists in this panel.

• 10 mins. -- The moderator will introduce the topic and the format of the panel
• 10 mins. -- Each panelist will present their view following a specific question format using PowerPoint/Demo
• 30 mins -- Open discussion with questions from the audience

Professor Timon Du, CUHK

• Dr. Frank Tong, Director of the Wireless and RFID Laboratory, HKU
• Professor Chu Sung Chi, CUHK
• Mr. K K Suen, Chief Architect, EPCglobal and Hong Kong Article Numbering Association, HKANA
• Prof. Kwei-Jay Lin, Professor, University of California, Irvine
• Jen-Yao Chung, Chief Technology Officer for IBM Global Electronics Industry

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