California Apparel News

With apparel industry suppliers scurrying to comply with the radio frequency identification (RFID) mandates set by Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the Target Corp. and others, the suppliers of RFID-based hardware and software systems were in full force at the National Retail Federation Convention and Expo, held Jan. 11–14 at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in New York.

Wal-Mart and Target are requiring that their top 100 accounts become RFID-ready by 2005. Wal-Mart will eventually require all its accounts to become compliant, at least at the pallet level.

That means tagging shipments with radiotransmitting chips. But the system doesn’t run on chips alone. Scanners and other verification devices are needed, and new software systems are being developed.

RFID technology is similar to current barcode systems, but RFID chips can store more information, such as names of manufacturers and suppliers and shipping and expiration dates.

German retailer the Metro Group gave NRF visitors a taste of the future by staging its “store of the future.” The store demonstrated how RFID technology could be used to track products at any time or place. The aim is to reduce out-of-stock situations and assure the availability of products. The 2,300-unit chain will begin implementing RFID throughout its supply chain this November after conducting a number of pilot programs in Europe.

“We see RFID as one of the crucial technologies for the future of retailing,” said Zygmunt Mierdorf, chief information officer for the Metro Group. Mierdorf said Metro’s initiative is a step forward to establishing international standards for RFID.

“RFID technology has the potential not only to make inventory and supply-chain management more efficient but to create a new shopping experience for the consumer,” said John Davies, vice president of Intel’s solutions market development group, which is partnering with Metro, Microsoft Corp., IBM and SAP America Inc. on the future stores initiative.

Newtown Square, Penn.–based SAP is among those parlaying RFID technology into other uses. The company has developed an RFID software application that interfaces with existing enterprise resource planning (ERP) and supply-chain management solutions. The product allows users to leverage data captured through RFID tags by integrating ERP software and other supply-chain functions to build an RFID infrastructure. Examples include packing and unpacking, shipping and receiving, and tracking and tracing across the supply chain.

Other RFID products were prevalent throughout the show. The White Plains, N.Y.–based Paxar Corp. showed its latest Monarch RFID bar-code printer/encoder and Wal-Mart–compliant RFID labels. The system includes AC-powered as well as mobile cart–enabled products. Rick Bauer, senior director of RFID technical research for Paxar, said suppliers are looking for complete solutions that offer printers, encoders, labels and verification systems.

ON Technology showed its iCommand software, which manages RFID handheld devices via the Web. Aside from RFID, the system is also compatible with pocket PCs, pointof- sale (POS) and self-checkout systems, store manager workstations, and store servers—all manageable from a centralized administration console.

Island Pacific of Irvine, Calif., announced a partnership with Needham, Mass.–based LP Innovations to use LP’s auditing services to interpret data from Island Pacific’s IP Gladiator loss-prevention solution, which analyzes POS discrepancies.

—Robert McAllister