By D'Anne Hotchkiss, Editor RFID News & Solutions August 17, 2005

Some forward-thinking companies are investing in RFID technology to improve their enterprise performance. Meanwhile, some forward-thinking operations managers are investing in RFID training to improve their career performance.

For a warehouse consultant with years of automatic data capture experience, the investment in RFID training yielded a great return on investment. Because his company is working to meet the Wal-Mart RFID mandate, he asked to keep his identity, and that of his employer, confidential. He describes himself as the manager of business analysis for RFID at a national food products manufacturer and distributor.

“I knew that the mandates were looming, and figured that there would be opportunity for those who had credible knowledge of RFID. I had been reading everything I could find on the topic of RFID and could stand in the presence of business prospects and come off as an RFID expert. However, I had never actually seen an RFID tag,” he said in an email.

There are many training programs available from hardware and software vendors. But vendor-biased training would have qualified him as only a ‘one solution’ expert. Instead, he took a three-day course from OTA Training, perhaps the only training company not affiliated with a specific vendor or consulting organization.

He learned more than he expected.

The course began with an RFID overview, including the business case for RFID as well as the business processes affected by RFID implementation. Trainers talked about hardware, software, and lessons they’d learned. Participants asked questions specific to their own situations, and there was hands-on lab work with tags and readers.

“I learned that there is a reality to the technology that isn’t being exposed in the hyped up white papers and magazine articles we read in the trades. Most of the training at the time was vendor-specific, built around a sales pitch.” The exposure to the technology, “warts and all, (came) from a group of very knowledgeable people who recognized that any successful implementation would not be put into play by people who didn’t understand both the conceptual potential of RFID and the physical limitations of the readers and tags.” He learned how to use the technology while remaining aware of its imperfections.

RFID Expert Shortage

“There is a chronic shortage of skilled resources to handle the next wave of pilots and implementations. Hiring an RFID expert is problematic and somewhat a matter of guesswork,” says Rob Sabella, president of OTA Training.

Sabella advises that the best training comes from courses with new certification tests. “Any certification should be based on standards that are supported by a legitimate, vendor- and standards-neutral, global body with industry buy-in,” he says. “Certification training is going to be the key to an industry that understands that an RFID implementation is more than just setting up some readers and antennas.”

Our RFID manager completed the course a year ago. “I came into the training thinking myself something of an expert on the topic and left having shed myself of that illusion.” By October he had been hired to head up an RFID project for a Fortune 500 company. “I am in charge of all RFID related activities at the company including research into uses for the technology. And I am involved in influencing all procurements as they relate to RFID including tags, reader, software, and delivery equipment.”