KALAMAZOO – Helping more than 80 Michigan companies get up to speed on the potential of Radio Frequency Identification technology has earned a nomination for a U. S. Department of Defense national award for KVCC’s Michigan Technical Education Center.

The nomination of the M-TEC’s RFID Center and its coordinator, Kathy Johnson, has been submitted by the federal agency’s Procurement Technical Assistance Centers around the state.

Because the department is transitioning to a RFID system of tracking goods and materials, it assigned the PTACs to train suppliers in the emerging technology. The centers entered into an agreement with the KVCC M-TEC to engage in coordinated statewide training of government suppliers.

As the Internet revolutionized how Americans live, work, play and communicate beginning in the early 1990s, observers are saying that RFID will have a similar impact as the 2000s continue.

Wal-Mart has become one of the catalysts for its development. It has adopted an RFID system for its asset-management and inventory-control purposes, and is also requiring that its top 50 suppliers move to RFID by a certain date. As the largest company in the nation, that will have more than a ripple effect because, to do business with Wal-Mart, an enterprise will have to be RFID-compliant. The defense department is following suit.

RFID basically is taking the barcode on a product to the next level and will probably change, through RFID electronic chips, the way business is done not only in the United States, but around the world.

“KVCC is one of the nation’s pioneers in not-for-profit RFID technology initiatives,” said James DeHaven, M-TEC’s executive director. “Our center offered half-day training sessions at five locations around Michigan. Each included a live demonstration and a technical presentation about RFID.”

According to Johnson, more than 130 representatives from the 80-plus Michigan companies were trained in February and March. It was described as “just-in-time training” on the federal mandate and provided an opportunity to see RFID technology in action.

“This training is impacting the ability of the department’s suppliers to meet the RFID clause many are seeing in their solicitations,” she said. “It enables them to adhere to the mandate more quickly. It has been exciting to be the pioneers and leaders in offering this training to suppliers.”

The PTAC relationship with KVCC’s RFID Center is continuing in Michigan and the next step might be to use it as a national model with the M-TEC offering the training across the country.

Winners of the department’s “National Project of the Year” awards will be announced at an annual conference this month in San Diego.