Wal-Mart yesterday issued a formal announcement of its plans to “aggressively” move forward with the deployment of RFID. The giant retailer will implement the technology at an additional 500 stores and clubs before the end of its fiscal year (January 31, 2007), bringing the total number of RFID-equipped locations to over 1,000.
News that Wal-Mart is continuing its RFID rollout is being greeted as welcome news by RFID vendors.
The retailer says that by January, 500 more of its 3,900 stores will be using RFID technology to track goods entering their premises, bringing the total to 1,000.
StarTrak’s ReeferTrak Scout system, installed on refrigerated trucks, transmits temperature, location and other data to base stations up to 3 miles away.
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration has buried more than 1,000 RFID-enabled marker balls to improve the process of locating and identifying the airport’s underground infrastructure.
Yesterday at the Labelexpo Americas show in Chicago, labeling giant Avery Dennison announced two new developments related to the company’s RFID business. The first is the launch of a technology transfer program for its label converter customers. The second is the acquisition of startup RFID tag manufacturer RF IDentics.
The company is rolling out a technology-transfer program to enable label and packaging manufacturers to create RFID inlays by attaching RFID straps to antennas printed onto label or cardboard substrates.
The Singapore-based manufacturer is using passive UHF tags to track the power inverters it makes, and plans to expand the system to manage its inventory of other products.
Real-time location systems provider Parco Wireless will deploy a new, less-costly line of ultra-wideband tags and readers for tracking patients and assets.
Research firm Frost & Sullivan recently evaluated the RFID market in the North American aerospace, automotive, and industial manufacturing verticals. The firms pegs the collective market value at $71.3 million last year, and predicts that it will grow at a rate of 17.9% through 2012, when it reaches $225.7 million.