On Target: Retail Giant to Implement RFID
Bob Trebilcock -- Modern Materials Handling, 3/16/2004
Add Target to the list of organizations implementing RFID technology in 2005.
In a letter to suppliers posted on the company's extranet, Paul Singer, Target's CIO, announced that the Minneapolis retailer expects its top suppliers to begin shipping pallets and cartons with RFID tags next year.
Like Wal-Mart and other early adopters, Target expects RFID to supplement and not replace existing bar code technologies. Pilots are currently underway.
'Target expects top vendor partners to apply tags to all pallets and cases and start shipping to select regional distribution facilities beginning late spring 2005,' Singer wrote. 'Target's intent is to accept RFID tags from all vendors as a supplement to the current bar code markings at the carton and pallet level by Spring 2007.'
Singer added: 'As we plan our technological strategic direction for 2004, we will move forward to build out supply chain infrastructure to support RFID. We will make the best use of these technologies to benefit all our partners in the retail supply chain.'
While Wal-Mart has announced that 126 of its top vendors have signed on to comply with RFID requirements going into three facilities in Texas, Target declined to elaborate on how many vendors will be asked to meet the Spring 2005 mandate. Similarly, the retailer did not say which facilities will be targeted, or whether the technology will be limited to inventory destined for Target stores or also for Mervyn's and Marshall Field's, the company's other stores.
Target's initial requirements are similar to those of Wal-Mart and the Department of Defense. All will accept the EPC Class 0 and Class 1 tags currently available until the standards for the next generation UHF Generation 2 tag are announced.
The Hardware Action Group of EPCglobal, Inc. is meeting this month in Orlando to work on the design of the new specifications.
In addition to Target, the list of organizations with 2005 RFID requirements now includes Wal-Mart, the Department of Defense, grocery giant Albertsons, and HDMA, the distribution arm of the pharmaceutical industry, in the U.S. In Europe, retailers Tesco and Metro have made similar announcements. Meanwhile, Home Depot and Lowe's are expected to follow suit soon.
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