Manhattan Associates is participating in the latest curriculum at Indiana University's Kelley School of Business in Bloomington, Indiana, Ferret reported.

The university has built a scale model of an RFID-enabled supply chain in its lab, exposing students to this new technology and its application in the real world. The program offers an opportunity for companies who will be deploying RFID in their supply chain operations and for future professionals who will soon be joining the business marketplace.

According to the university, companies are looking for employees who have experience with RFID technology.

By using actual RFID equipment in the classroom, students can understand the technology's role in helping companies track goods through the supply chain, see into inventory and eliminate out-of-stocks-ultimately increasing revenue.

Experiencing real work situations is different from just seeing RFID animated on a computer screen or reading about it in a textbook.

Indiana University is one of the first business schools to decide to build a working model of a RFID environment. The professors have created an RFID lab that is used to teach RFID to the university's graduate and undergraduate classes. This lab uses miniature train sets and radio-controlled trucks, RFID tags, readers and antennae to create a scale model of how goods flow through the supply chain-from manufacturer to warehouse to retailer.

The trains and trucks carry goods with product names and equipped with tags. Antennae read the tags as the miniature carriers pass by. The students track how the tags are read, collected and presented on a computer.

The school will continue to move ahead with RFID as an important part of its curriculum.