TI's well-calculated Gen 2 RFID rollout

A new vendor for E&PS is label supplier NCR, which converts the TI RFID inlays into pressure-sensitive RFID labels. This recommendation came from TI RFID, though E&PS contacted several customers and determined NCR was the “best fit,” according to Shields.

Prelaunch RFID testing

Another of its new partners is Odin Technologies, specialists in RFID consulting and testing. The announcement of the Gen 2 standards in December 2004 coincided with Odin’s testing for E&PS.

E&PS had Odin test other Gen 2 tags for comparison. “We found that the TI inlays performed very well compared to competitors,” says Shields. “We knew they would meet our requirements, which was critical.”

E&PS shipped two pallet loads of product to Odin for testing. “These included the different packaging configurations we offer our customers across our 12 core stock-keeping units,” says Shields.

For Wal-Mart, E&PS packs the calculators into two basic formats: graphing calculators in polyvinyl chloride clamshells packed three per case, and scientific calculators in carded PVC blister packs packed 6 or 8 per case.

“We made sure every potential configuration was tested,” says Shields. “Odin was great, very helpful as we moved forward. It did a lot of product tag testing for us so we could determine where the sweet spots were.

Fortunately, our products, which contain no water and little metal, are relatively RFID friendly. We could place the tag essentially wherever we wanted, but we did identify the optimal location to get the best read rates.” That was usually on the lower right side of the case, but sometimes on the top, according to Shields. The latter was due to the presence of helpful air gaps that produce good reads.

E&PS also conducted its own testing, including for shrink wrapped units of multiple cases (see sidebar above).

Another plus was that “we had the good fortune that the processes already in place tended to complement an RFID label application. “ Shields says. Because all cases receive a label generated at the 3PL warehouse anyway, it was a matter of switching to “smart labels” printed for the RFID-enabled cases and pallets.

Its implementation is basically “slap and ship,” according to Shields, though the industry prefers the less informal, more accurate “tag and ship.” In fact, E&PS’s implementation is more than that. E&PS stores RFID data using its Warehouse Management System (WMS) and even has partial integration of the RFID data to its Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system.

Picked and printed

The cases are staged in an area inside the expansive 3PL warehouse designated for TI. The process is set into motion each morning with the printing of pick sheets that direct the operators to the cases in storage that are to be pulled and shipped that day. Prompted by the ERP software via the WMS software, the RFID-designated Wal-Mart orders are output to any one of three Zebra Technologies’ Model R110Xi printer-encoder; E&PS also has backup units. The units were installed at the 3PL DC last year; that was followed by firmware upgrades and testing in late summer. The Zebra units also confirm each tag’s readability.

Cases for picking arrive at the 3PL DC from the Far East preprinted with UPC coding information. “Then we apply the necessary RFID label per retailer requirements,” says Shields.

The 4x6 smart labels for the case are printed and RFID encoded with the EPCglobal Electronic Product Code, EPCglobal logo, and human readable information.

A pallet RFID label is printed along with the batch of RFID case labels from the designated printer-encoder. The printer produces in one batch all RFID tags for the cases that will make up that load, plus one for the pallet itself.

The pallet’s RFID label is applied to the pallet before it is stretch wrapped. This placement, rather than applied outside the film, provides more protection. A full pallet of its graphic calculators will contain about 120 cases, with three calculators per case. The retail price of a calculator varies, and can be as high as $100 to $125 each.

Using a temporary reader at the pallet assembly location, E&PS has found its RFID read rates are 90%-plus. “We were surprised our read rates were so high,” says Shields. The warehouse makes no further reads such as at a dock door.

While the RFID system operates daily, E&PS’s business is highly seasonal, and centers around back-to-school promotions. This was another reason that the timing during a relatively slow period midway between the annual cycle works out well.

Better visibility at Wal-Mart

“Wal-Mart provides excellent communication through their retailer link,” says Shields. “It allows us to track units right up until the cases those calculators were shipped in are destroyed. We have visibility at the cases level at stores. When that case is unloaded by store personnel for display, the case itself goes to the back room to be crushed; that’s when the very last read is made. All that information is available through a retail link.”

With implementation just weeks old, what will E&PS do with that data?

“It is extremely useful information,” says Shields. “We expect the value of that to grow exponentially as we receive better and better point-of-sale data as this technology filters through more Wal-Mart DCs and stores.”

He also looks forward to the data generated by the high-volume back-to-school period when they ramp up shipments in May and June.

Future plans, external and internal

E&PS is prepared to meet other mandates that they know will come, such as from Best Buy and Target, as well as from retailers overseas, according to Shields. For example, he expects a mandate in the coming months for Carrefour in Europe.

“We’ve tried to build a system that is easily scalable and ramps up as we receive more requests from additional retailers and distributors,” Shields says.

E&PS will expand its rollout to Wal-Mart as the retailer expands the number of its RFID-enabled DCs. In June, six more DCs will be added, including some outside Texas, Shields says. By the end of the year, Wal-Mart’s RFID program is expected to reach 13 of its DCs in the United States, Shields adds.

E&PS also has plans to add portable hand-held RFID Gen 2 readers; the company expects to test and implement those in first quarter 2006. Because of its own familiarity in RFID, it will not use Odin this time. “At this point in our evolution, we can do much of our work internally going forward,” Shields notes.

How has this entire RFID experience been?

“It’s been an exciting adventure, we’ve had wonderful business partners as well as our colleagues in TI RFID,” says Shields. “Everyone is as committed to our success as we have been, and those are the kind of partners you want to have.”