http://emol.org/emclub/?q=walmartrfid
SUMMARY
One of American largest companies Walmart improve their on-shelf availability through the use of electronic product codes. Since using the new (RFID) technology Researchers at the University of Arkansas found a 16 percent reduction in out-of-stocks and the study also showed that out-of-stock items with EPCs were replaced three times faster than comparable items using standard bar code technology. There were studies which showed that the RFID help stores to be were 63 percent more efficient to replace out-of -stocks than the normal control stores. The RFID also showed the researchers that out-of-stock on the EPC tagged items were reduced at a rate more than three times faster than that of the non-tagged items within the same store. Walmart is also desired to move to the Gens2 standard of EPC tags, it has been said that the Gen2 has proven to be very successful in improved read rates. The great thing about the Gens2 they are a lot less costly and the cost of the was was the number one driver to the cost. In some cases the price tags can be reduced by over 70 percent. The new technology not only helps to reduce their inventory in the whole supply chain, it also benefited in driving the cost down. which help Walmart to be more efficient and progressive than the other vendors.
CONNECTIONS
The connections that are in this article and chapter 11 are that the new RFID technology is a part of the perpetual inventory that is made more advance. The RFID technology is also more effective than the old system and the periodic inventory method- which is still used in small businesses today. The RFID system is much more time consuming, the cost using this system is much lower and the need of manual labor is sufficiently decreased- but it is still needed for accurate numbers at the end of the accounting cycle. This helps the business to grow and expand faster without needing to spend a great amount of extra money that can be used to promote or to advertise to help sell their products.
REFLECTION
In my opinion I think that switching to the new technology the RFID is a great investment for the company because the new system allows the company to replace out-of -stocks 63 percent more efficiently than the currently system. There is a 16 percent reduction in out-of-stocks and the out-of stocks with EPCs were replaced three times faster. With the second generation of Gen2, the prices of the tags can go down by 70 percent and with lowered prices of the tags -mostly likely the price of the items in the store may also go down. With the lower prices, this can help attract more consumers to shop at Walmart. With this system I can see the benefits for the company, which allows them to save a whole lot of money, time and the need of hiring more employees to do physical scanning of products. However, this system is relatively new so they will be testing it out and in the long term they will be able to see if this system is the best for the company.
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This new RFID technology sounds very modern and efficient for retailers to use. I think more vendors should use this in hopes of using it to their advantage where they won't need to close down their store for about one to two days and have their employees to do the tedious work and instead use their employees to do other things to help benefit the store. However, I think not all vendors should use this new RIFD technology, because there may be small businesses that may need only a few employees or even less than that to do a physical inventory to count and value the items. Otherwise, the technology for them would not be much of something useful because the cost of the RIFD may cost more than taking a physical inventory.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the new RFID technology is beneficial to Walmart because a retailer as large and successful as they are needs to renew its stock regularly to ensure there are sufficient quantities on hand. With a greater amount for beginning inventory and merchandise sold, the sales revenue, and therefore the gross profit, has a greater potential to rise. For consumers, out-of-stock items are a major frustration and it is easy for businesses to lose potential customers this way, especially because those customers had originally intended on buying their products. However, the one disadvantage for this system is that the manual labor would be significantly decreased, which would result in having less employees and making less jobs available in the job market.
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