What is the ALEC Program?

The ALEC Program is a supplier-onboarding, support, and validation initiative run by Auburn University RFID Lab. 

ALEC ensures that products using RFID tags meet the right standards before they enter a retailer’s supply chain. This includes checking that inlays are approved, tags are placed in the right location, encoding is correct, and serialization or permalocking (where required) is valid. 

It helps manufacturers and brand owners validate their tagging approach — packaging type, material, inlay spec, and placement — before large-scale production or retail rollout. 

In other words: ALEC bridges the gap between inlay design and real-world deployment. It helps avoid supply-chain issues by validating that tagged products will read reliably, meet retailer requirements, and perform consistently across different environments.