UK
supermarket chain Tesco and European retail giants Carrefour and
Metro Group have joined forces with chip manufacturer Intel to
accelerate the adoption of Electronic Product Code (EPC)
technologies, such as RFID.
The companies have
formed a working group, called the EPC Retail Users of Europe, to
provide a forum for European retailers to identify and share best
practice for implementing EPC-based technologies, such as RFID tags
and readers.
EPC, a 96-bit
numbering system that assigns a unique tracking number to every
item that leaves a factory, combined with RFID tags, which allow
goods to be tracked along the supply chain, will improve inventory
management and lead to reduced operating costs and higher margins,
the group said.
The group, whose
retail members are all piloting EPC and RFID in their stores, will
develop documents and white papers on successful implementations,
technologies and usage models and share them across the retail
industry.
Gerd Wolfram,
project manager of Metro Group’s Future Store initiative, said, “In
this new working group we will drive forward international best
methods for the EPC. This will be a cornerstone for the future of
RFID in retailing.”
Intel's role in
the working group is to provide advice as to how retailers can
implement technologies such as scanners and handheld devices that
work with EPC and RFID technologies, said John Davies, vice
president of the sales and marketing group at Intel. It will share
details of upcoming processors which can be used in inventory
tracking devices, he added.
Last month, Tesco,
which has been trialling RFID at a handful of its UK stores,
mandated that some products must be RFID-tagged by July 2004.
Colin Cobain, IT
director at Tesco, said, “We recognise the importance of
implementing an efficient supply chain and the benefits EPC and
RFID could bring. We are currently trialling radio barcodes within
our distribution network and have already seen some benefits. We
hope to be able to roll this out soon.”
German retailer prepares for RFID roll-out >>