This article was originally published by RFID Update.
December 22, 2004—Analyst John Fontanella of Boston-based research firm Yankee Group outlines five important lessons gleaned from the experiences of Wal-Mart suppliers that have worked throughout 2004 to meet the retailer’s RFID mandate. First, recognize that Wal-Mart is flexible with regard to how an RFID deployment is implemented, but strict that it be EPC-compliant. Second, don’t overkill. That is, large-scale business process and system reengineering to accommodate new RFID capabilities is unnecessary now. Just get a basic, functioning system in place. Next, don’t assume that every product line must be tagged. The materials of certain products interfere with RFID and thus can possibly be excluded from tagging. Also, don’t reinvent the wheel. Tap the wealth of collective experience from Top 100 suppliers when designing your RFID deployment. Finally, don’t expect perfect read rates; Wal-Mart doesn’t.
Read the article at Yankee Group
