Walmart's Use of Rfid Technology

Walmart’s approach means frequent, informal cooperation among stores, distribution centres and suppliers and less centralized control. The company’s supply chain allowed consumers to effectively pull merchandise to stores rather than having the company push goods onto shelves by tracking customer purchases and demand. Through the use of universal product codes, implementation of Retail links at the store, use of RFIDs and smart tags, suppliers and manufacturers within the supply chain synchronize their demand forecaste under a collaborative planning, forecasting and replenishment scheme, and every link in the chain was connected through technology that includes a central database, store-level point-of-sale systems, and a satellite network. As per report, there was a 16% reduction in out-of-stocks with the use of RFIDs and pointed out that the products using an electronic product code were replenished three times as fast as items that only used bar code technology. These strategies have made Walmart to be the dominant force over other competitors with information and technology helping its supply chain strategy attain greater

An RFID reader is a network connected device (fixed or mobile) with an antenna that sends power as well as commands to the tags. The RFID reader acts like an access point for RFID tagged items so that the tags' data can be made available to business applications.

RFID systems are currently being used in manufacturing plants to track parts, stay informed of work in progress, reduce product defects, increase throughput, and manage production of given products. Big name retailers such as Best Buy, Metro, Target, Albertson’s, Hewlett Packard, and Wal-Mart are leading the way in implementing RFID systems. These retailers recognize the need to improve inventory efficiency, ensure products are available to customers as needed, decrease theft, and cut down on costs associated with tracking and processing inventory.

Wal-Mart uses a wide range of technology. When a company fails to recognize the importance of technology, the company runs the risk of being overtaken by competition. It uses a merchandise scanning system that let the managers or employees know if the stock on a shelf is getting low so they can be responsive to consumers’ buying habits, and make sure the items they are looking for are there for them (Solman, 2004). Another recent technology that Wal-Mart has implemented is self-checkout registers. This technology has made it easier and faster for consumers. Instead of waiting in long lines, they can just check themselves out and save some time. As this technology replaces employees, Wal-Mart can save the money that they paid to their cashiers. This could

The RFID is considered a significant improvement over the conventional barcode, which needs to be read by scanners in "line-of-sight" fashion and can be stripped away if the paper product labels get ripped or damaged. RFID can also facilitate inter-organizational E-commerce initiatives such as continuous replenishment or vendor-managed inventories (Smaros and Holmstrom, 2000).

The RFID system will open new sales opportunities to larger markets such as the Department of Defense (DoD) and Wal-Mart. Who are now demanding that RFID tracking as a condition of contracting.

While the Radio Frequency Identification Device has been in existence for almost 50 years, the use of this chip in human beings is an advancement of the technology. The chip has mainly been used for tracking animals and goods throughout is existence. Generally, the RFID chip consists of two main parts i.e. an antenna and integrated circuit chip. It's been used as an effective detection mechanism since the antenna can recognize the chip regardless of whether it's within its line of sight (Alam, 2011).

First of all, what are RFID chips, and what are they capable of? In more detail RFID stands for Radio Frequency IDentification, a technology that uses tiny computer chips smaller than a grain of sand to track items at

Today, RFID is used in retail, manufacturing, healthcare, agriculture, travel, entertainment, etc. RFID increases efficiency of operations, decreases reliance on manual process, improves asset visibility and traceability, reduces operation costs, and provides useful data for business analytics. There are many different reasons why companies and firms are beginning to make the switch to RFID, some examples are: automating inventory and asset-tracking in healthcare, manufacturing, retail, and business sectors; identifying the source of products, enabling intelligent recall of defective or dangerous items; prevent use of counterfeit products in the supply chain; improve shopping experience for consumers; provide visibility into the supply chain

The technology helps the Walmart in the reduction of the cost and the Walmart provide the efficient services

RFID technology can offer many advantages to suppliers, retailers, and consumers including “improved accuracy in managing inventory, improved visibility of orders and inventory, reduced costs for logistical operations, improved customer service, improved security, and improved efficiency of business operations” (Park et al. 2010, p. 684).

Would RFID work to track Products? Well, Bar Codes require a line of sight, so a person(s) with a bar code reader has to get right up on the bar code and scan it. When you are thinking about a supply chain, somebody in the warehouse would have to look at every single case. With RFID, all of the cases on the pallet would be picked up by a single swipe of a reader, even the ones

Radio Frequency Identification(RFID) is a chip that transmit data to receivers. RFID is use vastly in many areas of the health care operations. Each chips send a unique signal to where it could be located. RFID can be used for different reasons for instance; tracking pharmaceuticals inventory in a health care facility, collecting data to identify providers to ensure efficiency in care, tracking and monitoring infants while they are hospitalized and ensuring the right patient receive the proper medication and medical device. The benefits of RFID are to improve quality and decrease cost.

RFID tags are much more efficient than simple barcodes because of a few key features. Unlike barcodes, RFID tags do not need to be on the surface of the object. This means that the tag does not need to be subject to the elements. RFID tags can also be read much more quickly than barcodes. Where barcodes need to have a device pointed directly at them to scan them, RFID tag readers need only be within range of the transmitting signal. This allows scanning process to be much more automated. Finally, RFID tags can be read almost simultaneously (mostly due to the high speed reading and use of different wave lengths) (What is RFID, n.d.).

RFID technology is not only used at gas stations, restaurants, and department but also at