What do fishing and oil and gas exploration have in common? In both of these sectors, which are crucial to the economy of the Kingdom of Norway, GS1 standards for Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology have found widespread application. The same applies to rail transport, container handling, and contactless card payments. All these applications were presented during the 2nd EPC/RFID Conference, which took place in Oslo on November 3, 2009.
The conference, organized by the GS1 SmartCentre operating under GS1 Norway, brought together over 80 participants from Norway and other European countries. Presentations were prepared by both companies implementing EPC/RFID standards, such as IBM, and organizations involved in setting new standards and new applications for them. It is worth noting here that Norway is a global leader in the implementation of modern standards and technologies in the fuel industry, and the OLF Integrated Operations ICT platform developed by the Norwegians is a benchmark for institutions worldwide.
Among the speakers was also a representative of the Institute of Logistics and Warehousing, invited by the organizers to present the implementation of EPC/RFID technology at Intersport Polska, which was the first such implementation in Central and Eastern Europe. Intersport Polska launched a transport container identification system in September 2009, based on barcode and RFID technology; the entire process was controlled by the TaGS1 system developed by the Institute of Logistics and Warehousing, compliant with EPCglobal standards.
During the breaks between presentations, conference participants could visit booths demonstrating the use of EPC/RFID technology, where, in addition to videos and computer demonstrations, one could find, among other things, a supply chain simulation built from Lego bricks equipped with RFID hardware.