RFID Journal Editor Mark Roberti's Blog
Wal-Mart's President Says EPC RFID Strategy Is Working
September 16, 2010
Bill Simon, president and COO of Wal-Mart Stores, spoke yesterday at the Goldman Sachs Retail Conference 2010, held in New York. Simon touched briefly on the retailer's use of radio frequency identification tags based on the Electronic Product Code (EPC) standards. In discussing what the company has done right, Simon said: "Our process discipline and inventory management is excellent and continues to be excellent, and we will focus on process improvements and driving operational standards. In fact, many of you might have read about our Electronic Product Code (EPC) program that is rolling out to 3,000 stores in our men's apparel area. These are little radio frequency ID RFID tags that are attached to the apparel that allow us to—in an instant, with the pull of a trigger or the scan of a reader—inventory a back room or a rack of apparel for size, color and presentation. It will allow us to take an all-day task of counting and restocking, say, jeans or men's pants down to an hour or so, giving us the ability to more efficiently, more productively stay in stock and drive sales, serving our customers." A bit later on, Simon stated: "So just to be clear, there has been a lot said and a lot written. I prefer to say, rather than returning to the past, we are moving forward, building on what has worked. And we've learned a lot. As I said, we are a learning organization. We have many, many years of history in Walmart practices and principles that allow us to build on that success, and we are doing that." Simon was not referring specifically to the company's false starts with EPC RFID technology (see Wal-Mart CIO Still 'Bullish' on RFID, Wal-Mart Relaunches EPC RFID Effort, Starting With Men's Jeans and Basics, Wal-Mart Takes a New Approach to RFID and Putting Wal-Mart's Apparel Tagging in Context), but he might well have been. It is refreshing to see a large company that continues to innovate when things don't go perfectly, that learns from its mistakes and that strives continually to improve its operations.
POST A COMMENT
What CEOs of RFID Companies Need to Know
Posted on: 12/18/2012
Tools for UHF Deployments
Posted on: 11/13/2012
RFID Journal Publishes Article No. 10,000
Posted on: 11/6/2012
Where to Find Good RFID Leads
Posted on: 9/27/2012
Talk to End Users About Their Business Problems
Posted on: 4/2/2012
RFID for a Good Cause
Posted on: 3/23/2012
About That Untapped Pool of Customers
Posted on: 3/15/2012
Hello! I'm Ready to Buy an RFID Solution
Posted on: 3/13/2012
Is There an Untapped Pool of RFID Customers Somewhere?
Posted on: 3/12/2012
How Small Companies Can Market RFID Successfully
Posted on: 3/9/2012
5 Common Mistakes Made by RFID Marketers
Posted on: 2/29/2012
Veterans Health Administration Seeks RTLS Experts
Posted on: 1/28/2011
How Do You Value Information?
Posted on: 11/17/2010
Maximizing Exhibitor ROI at RFID Journal LIVE! 2011
Posted on: 11/16/2010
RFID Could Reduce Return Fraud—a $14 Billion Problem
Posted on: 11/9/2010
Seeking Judges for the RFID Journal Awards
Posted on: 11/8/2010
Hong Kong RFID Awards 2010 Announced
Posted on: 10/20/2010
Some Positive Coverage of RFID
Posted on: 10/19/2010
More Musings on Moore
Posted on: 9/23/2010
More Free Advice for RFID Vendors
Posted on: 9/22/2010
Free Advice for RFID Vendors
Posted on: 9/21/2010
Inside an RFID Industry Roundtable
Posted on: 9/17/2010
Posted on: 9/16/2010
Are RFID-Enabled Credit Cards Safer Than Magstripe Cards?
Posted on: 9/15/2010
Technology Predictions Aren't Always Accurate
Posted on: 9/14/2010
Should We Be Tracking Kids With RFID?
Posted on: 9/13/2010
Internet of Things Event in Tokyo
Posted on: 9/8/2010
The Future is Not Inevitably Bleak
Posted on: 9/7/2010
The RFID Privacy Conundrum
Posted on: 8/27/2010
Using RFID to Improve Online Availability
Posted on: 8/26/2010
Coca-Cola Event Exploits RFID on Facebook
Posted on: 8/25/2010
Awarepoint's Big RTLS Music Video Contest
Posted on: 8/24/2010
PBS NewsHour Responds to RFID Journal
Posted on: 8/19/2010
PBS NewsHour Misinforms Viewers on RFID
Posted on: 8/16/2010
Academic Navel Gazing Continues
Posted on: 8/12/2010
A Privacy Expert’s Misguided View of RFID
Posted on: 8/11/2010
Please Contribute to the Sinclair Laing Memorial Scholarship Fund
Posted on: 8/9/2010
Using RFID to Solve Postal Address Problems
Posted on: 8/6/2010
BNET Blogger Spreads False Info About Wal-Mart and Privacy
Posted on: 8/5/2010
RFID Not at Fault in Passport Test
Posted on: 8/2/2010
Why Isn't Wal-Mart Killing the Tags?
Posted on: 7/27/2010
Privacy Nonsense Sweeps the Internet
Posted on: 7/26/2010
Thank You, Bill Hardgrave
Posted on: 7/9/2010
Staff Spread Too Thin? RFID Can Help
Posted on: 6/22/2010
ABC Eyewitness News Presents Selective Facts About RFID Credit Cards
Posted on: 5/28/2010
Presentations now available
Posted on: 5/6/2010
Do You Want to Be an RFID Gorilla?
Posted on: 4/2/2010
Why Contextual Marketing Works
Posted on: 3/30/2010
Would Geoffrey Moore Validate Your Business Model?
Posted on: 3/17/2010
The Biggest Mistakes Vendors Make at Trade Shows
Posted on: 3/9/2010
The Biggest Mistakes RFID Marketers Make
Posted on: 2/28/2010
When Will RFID Become a Mainstream Technology?
Posted on: 2/23/2010
Build the Whole RFID Solution
Posted on: 2/18/2010
RFID Deployments Rarely Start in the C-suite
Posted on: 2/12/2010
Be wary of hotel solicitations
Posted on: 2/7/2010
Start Blogging
Posted on: 2/5/2010
Welcome to the all new RFID Connect
Posted on: 1/26/2010
WRITER’S BIOGRAPHY
Mark Roberti
Founder and Editor
RFID Journal
Add them to my Contact List
Recommend this blog
BLOG DESCRIPTION
Mark Roberti is the founder and editor of RFID Journal. His blog focuses on all aspects of radio frequency identification and related technologies.
Latest Blog Posts
the mini RFID button tags are already released by Oprfid,
High-Speed RFID Hang Tag Encoding System from Kirk Rudy
Winning Market Strategies For Every Business Lunch and Learn
Aplicativo atende à porta com NFC
L’expression "Internet des objets" est-elle appropriée ?
Growing Our Team: Join Xtreme RFID as a Sales Manager