Two Firms Team Up to Offer Wal-Mart RFID Starter Kit

02/14/2005

Xterprise, Long Beach, Calif., has teamed with Apriso and included Apriso's FlexNet software into Xterprise Inc.'s XARM solution for retail suppliers. Together, they were able to deploy radio frequency identification (RFID) and achieve mandated compliance in just weeks after design of the processes, and not months. This partnership, announced today by Apriso and Xterprise Inc., expedites efforts by manufacturers and suppliers to tag their products and shipments with RFID tags, almost immediately.

"RFID is emerging as the critical enabler for next-generation supply chain operations," said Dean Frew, president of Xterprise. "It's not a matter of 'if RFID is coming.' It's here, and companies need a rational, pragmatic roadmap to RFID implementation. We've partnered with Apriso because FlexNet adds a powerful software platform that makes RFID reasonable and real."

RFID has recently gained large amounts of attention because a number of retailers most notably Wal-Mart has issued a widely-reported mandate that its top 100 suppliers must be RFID-compliant by 2005 and its next 200 suppliers by 2006. RFID uses radio technology and tiny electronic circuits to track the location of inventory in a warehouse, production line, or on a retail floor, on a lot-by-lot, or even unit-by-unit basis. This leads to a dramatically-improved ability to operate in an ultra-lean fashion, with minimal errors, while anticipating and reacting to product shortages and overruns. Unfortunately, the quest for RFID compliance has been marred by opportunism and unnecessary complexity, said Frew.

"RFID doesn't have to be a supply chain overhaul, and it doesn't require huge consulting fees, re-engineering and multiple millions of dollars," said Frew. "RFID can be easy. That's why we created the Wal-Mart RFID Starter Kit. It's 'rational RFID.'"

The "Wal-Mart RFID Starter Kit" offers retail suppliers a turn-key, low-risk, rapid-ROI vehicle for meeting Wal-Mart's mandate and for managing their real-time operational processes, while cutting costs. It includes a software platform that easily links RFID data with real-time operational processes, such as inventory management or distribution.

"For example, we recently helped one Wal-Mart supplier develop RFID compliance within five months, start to finish, at three sites," said Frew. "The rapid implementation managed to limit supply disruptions while showcasing the value and validity of 'rational RFID.'" Xterprise customers gain "finely tuned RFID expertise," systems integration excellence and Apriso's powerful supply network software. "It's the best of both worlds," Frew said.