With RFID, return on investment derives from automated, accurate, real-time inventory tracking, says McLeod Williamson, RFID business development manager at Zebra Technologies. He provides an update on RFID applications in retail supply chains and describes how other industries are starting to leverage the technology.

Orchestro has made its retail product-monitoring application available on the iPad.

In a survey of supply chain executives across industries, Motorola Solutions found that more than a third are planning to either expand existing warehouses or add new warehouses to their networks. Mark Wheeler, director of industry solutions, discusses technological and consumer issues driving this and other trends.

Supply Chain Service International (SCSI) is taking its new course in vendor-management inventory (VMI) on the road.

Xplore Technologies Corp. has teamed up with blank-t to create a customized tablet for operators of heavy machinery in warehousing and distribution environments.

Use of RFID tags at the item level is upstaging case and pallet tagging among many retailers, says Tom O'Boyle, director of RFID at Barcoding Inc. O'Boyle explains the benefits derived from item-level tagging and looks at other innovative applications for RFID, including hybrid systems that mix active and passive tags.

ShockWatch, a vendor of tools for supply-chain monitoring, has introduced the TrekView Data Management System (DMS) for control of temperature-sensitive products.