As predicted by industry experts, the cost of the technology continues to fall while performance continues to improve. Wal-Mart expects this trend to continue as users adopt the Gen 2 tags, which, as envisioned, are becoming the industry's global standard thanks to significant work by EPCglobal and its members.
Ford said that Wal-Mart continues to work with its next 300 largest suppliers, which are expected to begin shipping test cases in October.
These suppliers will go live with their shipments in January 2007, bringing to more than 600 the number of supplier companies using RFID technology in concert with Wal-Mart.
"We continue to work with suppliers to help them see the vast potential of RFID," said Ford. "We're already fully convinced of its value and are ready to step up the pace since we know we are only touching the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the benefits of this technology."
Wal-Mart Stores Inc operates Wal-Mart Stores, Supercenters, Neighborhood Markets and SAM'S CLUB locations in the United States. The company also operates in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, China, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Germany, Guatemala, Honduras, Japan, Mexico, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico, South Korea and the United Kingdom.