FAYETTEVILLE — The University of Arkansas at Fayetteville is preparing for the opening next month of its third - and biggest - research facility for radio frequency identification, which is used in retail inventory tracking and other asset management.
Justin Patton, director of the RFID Research Center, said the expansion, roughly doubling the center’s space, is important because RFID technology is expanding to new uses, which requires additional space for research.
RFID deploys wireless tags that transmit data to a receiver to track products through the supply chain.
The new research facility is at 1637 Fred Hanna Drive in Fayetteville.
A grand opening is set for Sept. 11 for visitors and guests.
Mark Roberti, founder and editor of RFID Journal, said much of the focus for RFID deployment has shifted in recent years from tracking cases and pallets of products to tracking individual items. Inventory accuracy in apparel, he said, was typically only about 65 percent.
“It’s pretty bad,” he said. “What retailers have found is, if you use RFID, you can get accuracy to 99 percentor better.”
JC Penney recently said it would expand use of itemlevel RFID tags throughout its stores, Roberti said. Bentonville-based Wal-Mart istracking jeans and men’s basics and has begun to expand beyond those product lines, he said.
“So what that means is, the technology is catching on, people are seeing value in it,” Roberti said. Hospitals also have begun using the tags to track assets, he said.
The new facility will be in a 20,000-square-foot warehouse.
The university opened its first RFID research center in 2005 after receiving $2 million in commitments from sponsors that included more than 30 industry-leading companies.
Business, Pages 22 on 08/29/2012