Nielsen Deepens RFID Involvement

ACNielsen has joined the University of Arkansas' new RFID Research Center to study the impact of radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology on the global CPG industry. The company is already involved in a number of activities surrounding development of the technology, which promises a wealth of new product data.

The Center, at the University's Sam M. Walton College of Business, is examining how best to utilize RFID technology in the CPG industry, with a special focus on helping retailers and manufacturers maximize their return on RFID investment. The announcement came at the Consumer 360 event.

The Center's Director, Dr. Bill Hardgrave, described Nielsen as 'one of the true pioneers in studying the implications of RFID technology for the CPG industry' and added 'We look forward to tapping into their wealth of insights'. Nielsen was one of the original members of MIT's Auto-ID Center and a member of the EPCglobal Business Action Group, a non-profit organization responsible for the commercialization of electronic product codes. It has its own RFID Learning Lab at its US headquarters in Schaumburg, Illinois, opened a year ago.

Ted Fichuk, Senior VP, Retail Measurement Services, ACNielsen Global Marketing, says his company anticipate 'a healthy dialogue at the RFID Research Center that will benefit our industry on a global scale... Just as the barcode brought many new insights to the CPG industry, RFID has the potential to bring about many additional benefits, such as automatic out-of-stock alerts and real-time product forecasting. We have been very proactive in studying the issues and opportunities around the analysis and use of RFID-generated information'.

The College of Business is on the web at www.walton.uark.edu , while ACNielsen US' home page is at www.us.acnielsen.com

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.

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