ADT installs RFID solution at Metro’s innovation center

ADT, provider of electronic fire and security solutions, has installed a new item-level RFID solution at the Metro Group’s RFID Innovation Centre in Neuss, Germany. This installation is part of an advanced item-level combination electronic article surveillance (EAS) and RFID concept solution from ADT.

The RFID Innovation Centre enables the Metro Group's partners and suppliers to experiment and demonstrate the capabilities of RFID under real-life conditions. The test facilities include a model shop for groceries and clothing, as well as a simulation that encompasses the entire supply chain.

Through its Sensormatic brand, ADT has integrated item-level ultra-high frequency (UHF) RFID with Ultra•Max acousto-magnetic (AM) EAS technology. By deploying AM EAS alongside UHF RFID, ‘powerful benefits can be realized in terms of in-store protection and supply chain visibility’, according to a statement.

The components of the solution installed at the Innovation Centre include an AM EAS security pedestal with integrated RFID capability, a barcode scanner for cash desks fitted with an AM deactivator and an antenna for item-level UHF RFID. ADT has also installed item-level UHF RFID readers near the cash desks of the center’s clothing store. Combination hard tags and adhesive labels are being employed, in addition to automatic detachers for hard tags.

‘UHF RFID at the item-level is a new development that offers a number of unique benefits, which we want to test and evaluate,’ said Dr Gerd Wolfram, managing director of MGI Metro Group Information Technology and project manager of the METRO Group Future Store Initiative. ‘Our RFID Innovation Centre will give ADT the opportunity to prove this pioneering technology.’

Gerrit Wassink, ADT Europe’s RFID general manager, added: ‘Combining EAS and RFID technologies has obvious synergies. RFID will help get the right products to the right locations at the right time, and EAS will keep them there for the customer to purchase. This is an exciting concept and we look forward to working with strategic partners like Metro to bring this concept to reality."