IBM and Germany's Metro Group are working together on two radio frequency identification (RFID) projects with the goal to build customer loyalty by improving supply chain performance and product availability in Metro stores.
One project tracks shipments across Metro's entire supply chain, from suppliers to warehouses to European distribution centers to 200 supermarkets and stores across Germany. Metro executives claim the system helps improve product availability in stores.
In a separate project, IBM has developed and installed a RFID system to improve customer service in Metro's Galeria Kaufhof department store in Essen, Germany. Using RFID tags, the system allows employees to easily locate items for customers and to ensure popular items are always available. The Galeria Kaufhof project is one of the first to use the EPCglobal architecture framework, which sets communication standards between hardware and software components while defining data interfaces.
IBM and Metro have worked together since 2002. Along with other companies, they founded the Future Store Initiative, which opened as a physical location in 2003, to test radio frequency identification technology that could boost efficiencies in retail and provide consumers with more convenience and service when shopping. In 2004, a first RFID pilot was run in 20 wholesale outlets. When the results proved the technology was reliable and easy to use, the company extended its use of RFID last year to all its Cash & Carry and Real stores.
Dr. Gerd Wolfram, managing director for Metro Group Information Technology, sheds insight into the company's project in the following excerpts from a recent interview.
