It may sound like a stunt dreamed up by the Society for Creative Anachronism, but the Kennedys have been honored by a Taft. Of course, the Taft in this case was Ohio Governor Bob Taft and the honorees were the Kennedy Group, a family business devoted to developing RFID technology. In June, Governor Taft presented The Kennedy Group with a $63,000 check from The Ohio Department of Development's Ohio Investment in Training Program. The money will be used to train Kennedy Group employees on new RFID equipment and solutions.

The award was presented at a ceremony marking the opening of the Kennedy Group's RFID testing facility, a 7,000-square-foot laboratory in the Cleveland suburb of Willoughby, Ohio. In a speech marking the occasion, Taft cited The Kennedy Group as a leading example of Ohio's Third Frontier Project, an initiative designed to promote the state's expanding high-tech research capabilities, promote startup companies and create high-paying jobs for Ohio's future. "[The project] also helps Ohio companies create and develop innovative new products and services like the leading-edge RFID systems developed by the Kennedy Group," he said.

Governor Taft's visit included a tour of the company's manufacturing plant and a demonstration of the latest RFID technology, which took place at the Kennedy Group's state-of-the-art Customer Solution Center. That lab is fully equipped to help companies learn more about RFID technology and the ways in which it can improve their inventory control, tracking, security and shrinkage rates. Visitors can test an array of technologyneutral smart labels and tags, readers, printers and printer applicators, all under actual working conditions. In addition, the center provides customers with third-party verification for those facing mandates to apply RFID tags to cases and pallets shipped to retailers. After testing is complete at the center, The Kennedy Group then tests systems at its customers' facilities to further ensure accuracy and quality.