Mar 22, 2006This article was originally published by RFID Update.
March 22, 2006—Procter & Gamble yesterday announced that it will use the TrueVUE RFID platform from item-level tagging solution provider Vue Technology in its RFID innovation center. RFID Update spoke with Tim von Kaenel, Vue's senior vice president of product management and business development, about the announcement and what his company's technology brings to P&G.
Vue's TrueVUE solution will allow P&G to demonstrate to end-users and partners the tracking and tracing of consumer products all the way through the supply chain, from point of manufacture to the retail shelf. The installation comprises all the standard features of an RFID-enabled visibility solution, including automated receiving and validation of items, realtime alerts, and device management. It is Vue's platform that "ties it all together," said von Kaenel. "This particular showcase is centered around the item-level visibility of products," he said. About ten SKU's are tracked at the demo, including familiar consumer products Tide detergent, Pantene shampoo, and Crest Whitestrips.
In addition to the widely-touted RFID benefits of reduced out-of-stocks and shrinkage, P&G has taken a particular interest in the technology's ability to improve upon in-store promotions and new product introductions. In a January interview with Forbes, Dick Cantwell, Gillette vice president (recall that P&G bought Gillette last year), had this to say about RFID's application: "The rationale for tagging displays is overwhelming... Up to 40% of stores do not take full sales advantage of displays, because they fail to get promotions out onto the retail floor in time. Stores see a 20% uplift in sales if they get displays out for the full promotional period." The company has also developed a proprietary framework it calls "EPC Advantaged", in which SKUs are classified into one of three tiers, from most- to least-justifiably tagged. (See our article, Gillette RFID Mastermind Shares Secrets.)
P&G's deployment of Vue's platform is a feather in the cap for the venture-funded company that started as a division of packaging giant MeadWestvaco (see our article). P&G is one of the preeminent RFID adopters in the CPG manufacturer category, and association with its efforts lends prestige to any RFID solutions provider. In addition to the P&G innovation center, Vue's solution is also showcased with RFID Global Solution, IBM, and VeriSign.
Von Kaenel said that Vue is positioned uniquely in the RFID ecosystem. Aside from the company's laser-like focus on the item level, its platform is, according to von Kaenel, "game-changing because it represents a new class of technology that allows deployments to scale." An integral component of Vue's solution sits between RFID readers and antennas, allowing vast quantities of antennas to feed data to a sole reader. (Typically, the number of antennas a reader supports is fixed at one, two, or four.) It also allows for a greatly simplified deployment, said von Kaenel. "You don't have to have twenty different technology partners sitting around a table to make it work."
Read the announcement from Vue Technology
