RFID community gathers at fifth staging of RFID Networking Forum

The RFID Networking Forum, which took place on November 8th at the Sheraton Skyline Hotel in Heathrow, UK, proved to be the premier meeting place for the RFID end-user community, with over three hundred delegates participating in sixty interactive discussion groups and think-tanks.

Record numbers of end-users were drawn to the event by the attraction of being able to create their own personal agenda program, tailored around their particular interests.  Every delegate was able to pre-select from a wide menu of options including think tanks, discussion groups, presentations, case studies and one-on-one meetings. The day therefore provided a high level of interaction for networking and learning opportunities.

Adrian Ancliff, advanced logistics planning manager at Rolls-Royce, gave a glowing report of the Forum, saying it was ‘an excellent insight for anybody beginning the journey towards RFID solutions. Hands on experience from people in the know.’

Highlights of the program included a series of special think tanks where executives from a range of different industries came together to discuss the specific challenges and opportunities that RFID brings. 

For example, twenty of the country’s largest construction companies used the Forum to meet-up and discuss the opportunities for deploying RFID within major building projects. At another session, representatives from a variety of international branded consumer goods companies met to share experiences on the contribution of RFID to addressing the problem of counterfeit products.

Around twenty food and drink manufacturers held talks on the use of radio frequency identification in food traceability. Talks on the topical subject were held between organizations in a number of different product groups including agriculture, soft drinks, alcoholic drinks, meat, frozen foods and fresh produce.

As the premier end-user RFID event, the RFID Networking Forum also attracts many of the key suppliers of RFID technology and services. Sponsors and exhibitors for the event included: Siemens, SATO, Zebra Technologies, SAP, Domino, Oracle, TATA, Microlise, Nokia, Intermec, IBM, Datascan, Paxar, Printronix, Mantic Point Solutions, DSP Design, Avnet, Intrinsyc and Toshiba. EPC Global, GS1 UK, DTI and the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport also supported the event.

The next RFID Networking Forum will be held on May 25th 2006 at the Olympia 2 Conference Center in London.