Spyder, a ski and performance brand, will implement near field communication (NFC) technology within its latest U.S. Ski Team collection. Through a partnership with Smartrac, a provider of RFID-based Internet of Things tools, Spyder is powering a select collection of its U.S. Ski Team items to connect with NFC-enabled consumer devices globally.
Retail and supply chain technology company SML plans to open its sixth RFID solution innovation center in 2017, and to further its pop-up store deployments in an effort to educate customers about its radio frequency identification products. The firm opened a center in Texas in August of this year, followed by another in China in October, and a third in Germany this month.
Meeting mandates to protect the pharmaceutical supply chain from counterfeit drugs is no easy task, but Johnson & Johnson Supply Chain has found a way to do so well before U.S. legislation kicks in and while reining in costs.
With 2016 coming to a close, it's time for another helping of supply-chain predictions for the year ahead, courtesy of the San Francisco Roundtable of the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals.
Online retail continues to grow at a rapid rate, with a 14.6-percent increase in the category in 2015, totaling $341.7bn. That has major implications for warehouse optimization.
Finnish technologies company Valmet Technologies is launching a radio frequency identification system to track the use and replacement of cloth filters for its customers, including mining, paper and energy companies.
Year over year, Target says it's surpassed expectations for 2016 thanks to investments in inventory data. Although the third quarter saw a 0.2-percent decline in sales from last year, its comparable digital channel sales grew 26 percent over last year.
Aircraft manufacturer Airbus is among a handful of European manufacturers and logistics companies that are testing a new radio frequency identification solution that offers the benefits of active real-time location system (RTLS) RFID technology without the cost of an active system or the need for batteries.
Olive oil producers in the Italian region of Tuscany are adopting an RFID-enabled service designed to better inform customers about the finer details of their products. Brands such as Buonamici, La Ranocchiaia, SPO and Il Cavallino are integrating SpeedTap passive RFID tags created by Thin Film Electronics (Thinfilm) into the labels of their olive oil bottles.
Ocado, an online-only grocer and retail solution provider, has developed a 4G-based protocol to communicate with the thousands of robots powering its new automated warehouses. These highly-automated warehouses will be offered as part of a managed service called the Ocado Smart Platform which enables international partners to build scalable, sustainable and profitable online retail businesses, the company says.