Wal-Mart Mandate

• EPC compliant 915 MHz tags on each pallet, case or carton, or large unit (like a tire or TV).
• Standards
  • EPC Tag Constructs Only
  • Up until June 30, 2006 Accepting UHF Class 0 or Class 1 – 64 or 96 bit EPC
  • Starting July 1 EPC Class 1 GEN 2 will only be accepted.
  • Current human readable and barcode
• Performance requirements for all product types:
  • 100% pallet tags read at receiving with distance up to 10 feet without orientation preference.
  • Conveyor: 100% carton tags (600fpm) at 10 feet without orientation preference.
  • Note: During the initial start up period not all distribution centers are coming on line for RFID labeling. So each company works with Wal-Mart to identify which SKU’s will be RFID taged.
• Time frames and Distribution Centers
  • Top 100 suppliers by January 2005, next 200 January 2006, rest of suppliers (about 20,000) by January 2007.
  • Distribution Centers
• Comment: Suppliers are NOT allowed to pass along tag cost to Wal-Mart and must find a way to use the technology to their advantage to lower costs

Best Buy

• EPC compliant 915 MHz tags on each pallet, case or carton, or large unit (like a tire or TV).
• Standards EPC Based tags
  • Accepting UHF Class 0 or Class 1 – 64 or 96 bit EPC
  • Both SSCC and GTIN tag types will be required.
  • Migrate to Class 1, Generation 2 (“UHF GEN2”) as soon as available.
  • Current human readable and bar code
• Performance requirements for all product types:
  • Read rates meet or exceed 99.7%
  • Dock door reading requirement 3-6 feet
  • Conveyor read distance is between 2-5 feet at 600fpm
• Time frames and Distribution Centers
  • Major suppliers engage in pilots and preparation for case and pallet tagging starting 1/2/06 with full deployment in the September 2006 timeframe.
  • All by 5/1/07
  • A single distribution center during pilot phase and staged release as full deployment occur

Target™

• EPC compliant 915 MHz tags on each pallet, case or carton, or large unit
• Standards EPC Based tags
• Accepting UHF Class 0 or Class 1 – 64 or 96 bit EPC
• Both SSCC and GTIN tag types will be accepted, the use of either type depends on the item, shipping container and pallet configuration (ie. Mixed goods)
• Migrate to Class 1, Generation 2 (“UHF GEN2”) as soon as available.
• Current human readable and bar code
• Performance - None

Albertsons™

Albertson announced in March of 2004 that they were going to pilot RFID with an objective of having the Top 100 participating in case and pallet level tagging by April 2005. Other than this information there is not much in the generally available information category.

As more and more Companies announce mandates and the information becomes generally known in the industry we will report it here. However, we can not stress how important it is to treat this information purely as a guideline.