Wal-Mart Revises '05 RFID Expectations

Computerworld - CHICAGO -- Wal-Mart Stores Inc. executives at the Retail Systems Conference last week unveiled an updated road map for the company's rollout of radio frequency identification technology and discussed its revised expectations for suppliers working to meet a January 2005 deadline set last year.
The Bentonville, Ark.-based retailer plans to meet with its top 100 suppliers next month to share what it has learned and refine the rollout process for another 200 suppliers.
After going live with its top 100 suppliers and an additional 37 volunteers in January, the company plans to continue its expansion, with all domestic suppliers expected to participate by the end of 2006. It will also evaluate an international rollout.
Wal-Mart has challenged its top suppliers to tag all of the product cases and pallets they ship to its three distribution centers in the Dallas/Fort Worth area by January and to ensure that the tags can be read with a 100% accuracy rate .
While the goal remains unchanged, Wal-Mart now expects that, on average, suppliers will be tagging 65% of the product cases and pallets they send to the distribution centers in January, according to Linda Dillman, executive vice president and CIO at Wal-Mart. "And it could change," she said.
Determining Feasibility
Wal-Mart spokesman Gus Whitcomb said the company provided suppliers with a set of goals and then spent months meeting with them and asking "what was actually feasible." Suppliers offered predictions of the percentage of pallets and cases they will be able to tag by January, and 65% represents the average of the figures they submitted, he said.
Dillman said Wal-Mart "never expected in reality" to reach the 100% mark but decided to set that as a goal for everyone, including its internal team. Then it directed its suppliers to "tell us what you can do," she said. "That way we know what's really possible. We don't want to be the ones limiting what those suppliers can do."