Phasing In RFID
Dairy Farmers of America met Wal-Mart's tagging mandate, and the organization is now poised to reap internal benefits.
By Jill Gambon
Mar. 5, 2007—Dairy Farmers of America (DFA) had little choice in early 2005 when Wal-Mart requested suppliers to begin putting RFID tags on shipments. The $9 billion cooperative was among the second wave of Wal-Mart suppliers to join the effort and began tagging cases of cheese by January 2006 to meet the retailer's deadline.
Headquartered in Kansas City, Mo., DFA owns and operates 33 processing plants around the country. These plants turn out not only milk and cheese but also coffee creamers, sauces and a variety of other products, under such brand names as Borden, Keller's Butter, SportShake and VitalCal. The cooperative presently has 20,600 members and 4,000 employees. In 2005, DFA says it delivered 59.7 billion pounds of milk—34 percent of the nation's milk supply—to the marketplace.
DFA first introduced its automated RFID tagging system in December 2005, with a single production line at its Plymouth, Wis., processing plant. Since then, the firm has expanded RFID tagging to seven production lines at two plants, including a mobile unit that can be moved to tag cases as needed. About 12 different cheese products are being tagged in all. Over time, DFA expects to introduce the use of RFID to other processing plants, and to additional product lines as well.
Mar. 5, 2007—Dairy Farmers of America (DFA) had little choice in early 2005 when Wal-Mart requested suppliers to begin putting RFID tags on shipments. The $9 billion cooperative was among the second wave of Wal-Mart suppliers to join the effort and began tagging cases of cheese by January 2006 to meet the retailer's deadline.
Headquartered in Kansas City, Mo., DFA owns and operates 33 processing plants around the country. These plants turn out not only milk and cheese but also coffee creamers, sauces and a variety of other products, under such brand names as Borden, Keller's Butter, SportShake and VitalCal. The cooperative presently has 20,600 members and 4,000 employees. In 2005, DFA says it delivered 59.7 billion pounds of milk—34 percent of the nation's milk supply—to the marketplace.
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DFA first introduced its automated RFID tagging system in December 2005, with a single production line at its Plymouth, Wis., processing plant. Since then, the firm has expanded RFID tagging to seven production lines at two plants, including a mobile unit that can be moved to tag cases as needed. About 12 different cheese products are being tagged in all. Over time, DFA expects to introduce the use of RFID to other processing plants, and to additional product lines as well.
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