NEC-RP launch RFID competency centre

NEC and Republic Polytechnic (RP) have launched the RP-NEC RFID@NEC competency centre, an RFID-specific laboratory in which students are encouraged to develop new technologies for industry adoption.

In his speech, RP's Director of School of Engineering Fong Yew Chan said the competency centre aims to raise awareness of RFID technology while providing training and service purposes and to promote the centre as a leading hub for RFID research and application development.

The competency centre will conduct RFID research four areas - retail, hospitality, manufacturing and logistics (inventory management). In the manufacturing and logistics zone, the companies have looked into fitting a conveyor belt with an RFID reader and gantry to read tags on cartons, raising visibility of assets as they move in and out of the warehouse.

At the launch of the competency centre, Png Cheong Boon, deputy chief executive of Spring Singapore said: "The centre is a test-bedding facility that helps enterprises to explore the feasibility of adopting RFID and identify the ways it can be used to achieve business value, and put it into practice."

The collaboration is an extension of one signed between the two corporations in 2005. An RP spokesperson valued the collaboration at S$5 million over the period between 2005 and 2011, but did not reveal the cost of the competency centre.