Albertsons is currently in the testing phase with selected partners at the case and pallet level, and expects its top 100 suppliers to be participating at that level by April 2005.

Albertsons is confident that RFID technology will enhance its service to customers by improving consumer demand chain management, because its employees will be able to quickly locate products throughout the supply chain, making sure the right products are in the right places, at the right time.

EPC Network support In the coming months, the firm says it will become heavily involved with EPCglobal as it introduces its RFID technology, and wants to help drive the direction of the technology. Albertsons is a founding member of the EPCglobal standardisation process for retail consumer demand chain management.

As a member of EPCglobal, Albertsons says it will provide support for adoption of the EPC Network and in the creation of industry standards for RFID technology.

EPCglobal’s support “RFID is a cutting-edge tool that will give us a win-win advantage with both customers and suppliers,” said Gabe Gabriel, executive vice president of merchandising and supply chain for Albertsons.

“Albertsons’ participation in EPCglobal US is a strong indication of its support of EAN and the UCC in commercialising this technology, to ultimately help other companies in multiple industries view their consumer demand chains in real time,” said Dicki Lulay, president for EPCglobal US.

Developed by the Auto-ID Center, a unique partnership of nearly 100 global companies and five of the leading research universities in the world that explore the benefits and impacts of EPC technology, the EPC Network enables real-time identification and sharing of information. The original Auto-ID Center officially became EPCglobal on November 1, 2003.

Reprinted with permission from Using RFID (http://www.usingrfid.com/news)

UsingRFID provides free daily news reports and informative articles about Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology, and its applications, users, developers, trials, and implications - for executives, technologists, researchers, developers, vendors, and prospective and current RFID users.