Headed by the University of Parma's RFID Lab, the project has the support of 20 major manufacturers and retailers of fast-moving consumer goods.

The RFID Lab at the University of Parma is developing a model of a full-scale warehouse to test radio frequency identification technology. The model includes receiving docks and storage racks. Based on input from 20 major Italian companies, the project will reproduce warehouse logistics processes typical to the food and fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector.

Pilots running in the so-called "Warehouse Project" will examine how RFID can help automate data collection and data sharing at warehouses. In addition, these projects will test how companies can use RFID to automate and optimize storage, shipments and other internal processes.

Partners in the project include Intermec, SAP, Sun Microsystems, Procomac Packaging and Id-Solutions, a spin-off of the university. Intermec is providing interrogators for portals and forklifts, and printers for encoding tags, while Sun is integrating its middleware into RFID hardware, managing the connection with the EPCglobal Network.

Meanwhile, SAP is integrating information collected with RFID into the SAP R3 ERP platform, and Procomac is providing the materials-handling equipment, such as conveying and depalletizing systems, being outfitted with RFID interrogators. Additionally, Id-Solutions is developing software able to utilize data collected via RFID to improve such processes as tracing food products, analyzing inventories and monitoring key performance indicators.

"Once the results from the Warehouse Project are available, we will develop the model to full scale," says Antonio Rizzi, a full professor of industrial logistics at the university's department of industrial engineering, which operates the lab. Rizzi expects to complete the model by the middle of 2007.

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