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  - September 25, 2007 -  

Understanding Metro Store’s RFID Timeline

 
 

Long Journey of Retail RFID Pioneer Shows Its Staying Power - and How Long It Really Takes for New Technology to Find Its Place

 
 

 

SCDigest Editorial Staff

SCDigest Says:
Manufacturers and retailers would do well to understand the time lines generally associated with new technology – four years flies by very quickly.

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Metro Group, the German retailer that is the world’s firth largest merchant, has arguably been the most aggressive company on the planet when it comes to RFID research and deployment. It’s “Future Store” in Dusseldorf, later recreated for the CeBit Conference in Germany, drew observers from around the globe hoping to understand Metro’s vision for RFID and complementary technologies.

But that showplace was developed in 2003. Four-plus years later, Metro is just now starting to get real traction with its RFID efforts. The challenges along the way include:

Metro really operates three supply chains based on store type formats, each with unique requirements.

  • Results from early EPC technology were mediocre, and the company had to wait for the so-called “Gen 2” readers and tags that would boost readability to be commercially available.
  • Suppliers balked, facing costs with uncertain benefits.
  • Different standards for different product areas.
  • Consumer privacy groups protested certain elements of the company’s RFID plans, certainly diverting some resources from the program and perhaps slowing some aspects down.

To its credit, Metro has continued to push forward, most recently culminating in a series of announcements this summer, including plans for substantial tagging at the pallet level. But manufacturers and retailers would do well to understand the time lines generally associated with new technology – four years flies by very quickly.

 
 
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2003

April 28 – Metro opens its “Store of the Future,” featuring broad use of RFID and other technologies. Inbound products have tags and are automatically received, the store uses “smart shelves” and self-check-out systems based on RFID, etc.

July 3 – Galeria Kauthof, Metro’s Department Store chain, begins a pilot for RFID item-level tracking of apparel.

2004

January 12 – Metro says it will begin using RFID technology throughout its entire supply chain. Beginning in November 2004, approximately 100 suppliers initially will affix “Smart chips” to their pallets and transport packages for delivery to ten central warehouses and around 250 stores for all three of the companies formats (Metro Cash & Carry, Real hypermarkets, Extra supermarkets and Galeria Kaufhof department stores).

March 5 – Metro abandons use of RFID tags in its Future Store's loyalty cards, following consumer concerns over personal privacy issues. The company issues a position statement explaining that RFID will continue as planned, with the exception of loyalty cards, which will use bar codes.

April 2 – Metro says it is preparing for tagging at the carton level, which could happen as early as Q4 of this year. (It doesn’t.)

July 7 - Metro opens its RFID Innovation Center in Neuss, where its trading partners can familiarize themselves with RFID technologies before the roll-out scheduled to start in November 2004.

Late 2004 – Metro has put RFID portal readers in just nine DCs and 11 stores, well behind the January schedule.

November 2  – Metro begins its RFID rollout, with 20 suppliers tagging a limited number of  pallets for DCs and some stores across all three retail chains.

2005

January 24 – Metro says it is receiving expected benefits from initial RFID-based processes, and plans to roll out additional DCs and stores in March. Time frame for 100 suppliers tagging pallets is pushed back until end of 2005.

October 11 – Metro says it will start using EPC Gen 2 tags and readers in mid-2006

Late October – Metro launches EPC Global-accredited RFID test center.

2006

January 16 – Metro, Procter & Gamble and IBM jointly release a new research study that they say clearly quantifies the financial benefits of RFID implementation in retail and industry.

February 13 – Metro CEO Hans-Joachim Korber calls for a single global identification standard for EPC, saying a lack of such a standard is a factor in the lack of implementation progress.

March 15 – Metro has a “Future Store” display area at the huge CeBit Technology exhibit that received thousands of visitors.

July – Just 50 Metro suppliers are tagging a small portion of their pallets. The initiative is well behind schedule.

October 26 – Metro says improvements in RFID technology will enable it to roll out dock door readers in 150 sites by mid-2007.

December 6 – In a new research effort, Metro says it is testing active RFID tags on shipping containers moving to its German DCs from Asian ports.

2007

March 28 – Metro says it will begin a pilot to track high value apparel items using UHF tags. The earlier tests for item-level apparel tagging used high frequency RFID tags.

May 25 – Metro tells top suppliers pallet-level RFID tagging will be required on all shipments to 180 of its locations. Says case level tagging could begin in 2008.

June 26 – Metro’s investment in RFID gear gets serious, as it announces plans for major investments to support the supplier mandates of its own RFID data collection infrastructure.

September 20 – Apparel pilot using UHF tags goes live at Metro’s Galeria Kauhof chain, with an entire floor of one store RFID-enabled.

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