Wal-Mart: suppliers will meet RFID deadline

Wal-Mart has begun its long-awaited trial of RFID tags and electronic product codes (EPCs), and insists that its supply-chain partners are on track to meet the 2005 target for tagging goods.
The retail giant, whose support for RFID has driven take-up of the technology across the globe, is testing EPCs with eight manufacturers, including Gillette, Procter & Gamble, Nestle and Unilever, at a regional distribution center in Dallas.
The manufacturers' support, at a time when many are raising doubts over the benefits of RFID, will be vital to the success of the project, says Linda Dillman, CIO at Wal-Mart. ‘We're grateful to these companies for their commitment to improving the supply chain process,’ she says. ‘It's not easy being a pioneer, but that is how progress is made. These eight companies are revolutionizing the way we do business.’
The trial, which initially covers 21 products in seven stores, paves the way for Wal-Mart to achieve its target of having its 100 top suppliers using RFID by January 2005, Dillman says.
All but two of Wal-Mart's top 100 suppliers are on track to meet the deadline, with many planning to join the trial earlier, says Simon Langford, manager of RFID strategy at Wal-Mart. Langford also says RFID tags would be rolled out to UK retailer Asda during 2005 as part of Wal-Mart's global implementation of the technology.