Symposium Addresses Improving Global Supply Chain Management

October 7, 2009

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Radio frequency identification (RFID) can help do a number of things from scanning multiple barcodes at once to reducing the theft of razors on a supermarket shelf. Baylor University's Hankamer School of Business will host the fifth annual "RFID: Integrated Supply Chains Symposium" on Oct. 8 and Oct. 9.
RFID is an old technology that has evolved over the past couple of decades and has new applications. This technology is mainly used to trace and monitor movement of objects.
Program chair Dr. Pedro Reyes describes RFID as, "Kind of like a barcode on steroids."
RFID can be used to save money and time with its automatic identification technology. Health care providers, hotels, grocery stores and other companies can use it to track and trace movement of their inventory in mass quantities.
"It's a neat way to improve how replenishing systems are currently being done," said Reyes, associate professor of operations management and director of the Center for Excellence in Supply Chain Management.
The symposium, which is sponsored in part by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, invites top scholars with similar research to discuss recent findings in RFID technology, strategies and implementation.
Keynote speaker Dave Dias is chief of the United States Transportation Command's Asset Visibility Division at Scott Air Force Base, Illinois.
The symposium will be held 7 a.m. - 10 p.m., Oct. 8 and concludes with a 9 a.m. session, Oct. 9 on the fifth floor of the Hankamer School of Business.
For more information, contact Reyes at (254) 710-7804
by Jessica Puente, student newswriter, (254) 710-6805