With the goal of becoming the world’s premier provider of item-level RFID technology and integration services for the retail market, shrink-management and merchandise-visibility firm Checkpoint Systems has created a new division focused solely on the company’s RFID inventory-tracking solutions for retailers. The division, known as Merchandise Visibility Solutions, will be led by Per Levin—previously Checkpoint’s president of shrink-management and merchandise solutions—and will be one of three distinct divisions within the company. The other two divisions are Shrink Management Solutions, which provides and supports electronic article surveillance (EAS) systems and components, and Apparel Labeling Solutions, which offers tags and labels for a retailer’s merchandise.
With a division singularly dedicated to merchandise visibility, Levin says, the company intends to better focus its RFID-based solutions for those customers that need them. “The best way to drive the solutions that draw upon the strengths and resources across the company is by having an independent line of business that can leverage the strengths of both Shrink Management Solutions and Apparel Labeling Solutions,” he states.
With the new RFID division, Levin says, Checkpoint expects to provide RFID support to companies with a global footprint, by providing software and integration support, assisting in the identification of appropriate tags or labels, installing readers and providing maintenance at stores worldwide. When it was still part of a combined division with shrink management, the company reports, its merchandise visibility arm lacked sufficient flexibility to focus on RFID as well as draw from the apparel-labeling division.
The new division has been about five years in the planning, Levin says, and is a part of Checkpoint’s strategy to provide RFID services as deployments become more commonplace. In 2008, the company purchased RFID software firm OATSystems (see Checkpoint Systems Deems OAT Acquisition Strategic). The following year, it acquired Asian label company Brilliant Label Manufacturing, which prints a variety of RFID labels that Checkpoint presently uses.
“This is part of what has been a very long game plan over the past five years or so,” Levin says. The company has been participating in RFID pilots to track inventory and reduce out-of-stocks in stores, and Levin reports that it has determined the moment is now right to launch the new division. Some of the reasons he cites include the fact that standards (EPC Gen 2) are currently in place, the technology has proven itself to perform properly in the retail environment, and early adoption is now underway—in some cases publicly, and in others with non-disclosure agreements. All of these factors point to expected growth in item-level RFID tagging in retail, he says, noting, “The time has come when it is appropriate to build this new division for merchandise visibility.”
According to Levin, many retail deployments are expected to be global projects with a supply chain that could include manufacturers in Asia and stores on multiple continents. Some retailers, he says, may adopt RFID systems in phases—for example, first installing RFID tags and readers in stores that cater to one particular type of customer (such as women’s clothing outlets), and then moving on to other types of specialty stores (such as those specializing in children’s apparel). However, he adds, the companies are going to require an RFID provider that can manage a global deployment efficiently—integrating software and installing interrogators in stores across a large geographical area, and ensuring the appropriate labels are delivered to manufacturers.
Checkpoint’s new division is poised to do that, Levin says, by drawing from the resources in the company’s two other divisions as well. The firm already has 32 print shops globally that can provide woven RFID labels, as well as soft or hard hangtags, to the locations at which they are needed. It also has about 30 installation teams of engineers already trained to respond to EAS customers throughout Europe, North and South America and Asia, who are receiving further training to provide RFID support. Checkpoint’s staff can provide maintenance to customers in those same regions, Levin says. The Apparel Labeling Solutions division can help the company provide the appropriate labels with bar codes corresponding to unique Electronic Product Code (EPC) numbers encoded to RFID tags, to be attached by manufacturers or retailers.
“Our Merchandise Visibility division has the software skills to provide integration,” Levin adds, as well as to identify the best tags and readers for a solution. In addition, he indicates, the division can now draw from the many shrink-management engineers throughout its worldwide locations.
The new division is currently in the process of developing new RFID products, Levin says, though he declines at this time to provide details regarding those products, or to reveal when they will become commercially available. At present, he notes, the Merchandise Visibility team is putting retail solutions together for the company’s existing customers, and retraining staff members to install RFID hardware and software. Checkpoint is already providing RFID technology and maintenance services for some retailers, though they have asked not to be named.