Wal-Mart: RFID roll-out on schedule

Wal-Mart: RFID roll-out on schedule

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said last week its radio frequency identification inventory control program is on track and will meet plans to have roughly a quarter of its 3,900 U.S. stores outfitted with the technology by the end of the year.

   The world’s largest retailer said it is designing new initiatives to take further advantage of the technology’s ability to track pallets and cases moving through its distribution system and stores. Wal-Mart said the RFID systems, which include an electronic license plate on the shipment and readers at warehouse and store entrances, are already helping to reduce out-of-stock items and inventory levels.

   Wal-Mart’s next 300 largest suppliers are expected to begin shipping RFID-tagged test cases in October. These suppliers will go live with their shipments in January, bringing to more than 600 the number of supplier companies using RFID technology in concert with Wal-Mart. The company’s top 100 suppliers began using RFID in 2005 on a limited number of products under Wal-Mart’s mandate and the next 200 suppliers followed this year. Suppliers vary in how much of their product mix is RFID enabled.

   The company reiterated that it has almost fully phased out readers capable of reading first generation electronic labels in favor of industry-standard Generation 2 tags, and will complete the conversion once suppliers have shipped the last of the old tags.

   “We continue to work with suppliers to help them see the vast potential of RFID,” Chief Information Officer Rollin Ford said in a statement. “We’re already fully convinced of its value and are ready to step up the pace since we know we are only touching the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the benefits of this technology.”

   A University of Arkansas study last year reported that RFID helped Wal-Mart reduce out-of-stock events by 16 percent and replenish items three times faster than using bar code technology.