Global retailer Marks & Spencer (M&S) is expanding its use of EPC ultrahigh-frequency (UHF) RFID technology at most of its stores, from 80 percent of its general merchandise toward a goal of tagging 100 percent of goods within the next two years.
Like C-3PO and R2-D2, some robot pairs are a match made in mechanized heaven. Now, a new team, Fetch and Freight, can eliminate much of the efficiency-botching human labor from warehouses, getting that Amazon shipment to your door faster than ever.
Saying Walmart is the biggest IT investor in retail might raise a few eyebrows, but most people would likely shrug their shoulders and respond with "well that makes sense." But according to the latest research from IDC, Walmart is not only the biggest IT spender in retail but the biggest investor in IT across industries worldwide.
To hear some tell it, the world will soon be abuzz with small drones that inspect bridges, monitor pipelines, survey crops and help assess damage for insurance claims.
For many manufacturers and distributors, a seamless supply chain of highly efficient and tightly integrated business processes sharing a single unified source of accurate real-time data seems an unachievable goal. That's not surprising since such organizations are struggling to gain control over their entire supply chain using a mix of disparate systems that fail to fully mesh with one another creating silos of outdated and unreliable information.
Material handling equipment new orders grew 8.1 percent in 2014 and are forecasted to grow 9 percent this year, and another 7 percent in 2016, according to the latest Material Handling Equipment Manufacturing Forecast released by MHI.
German casual apparel company Marc O'Polo has adopted a radio frequency identification solution to track its products across the entire supply chain, from its distribution center to 86 of its stores throughout Europe. The company finished installing the system at all 87 sites by September 2014, and is now expanding the deployment to include the tagging of products by manufacturers, thereby enabling the retailer to track its merchandise from the point at which they are made.
You'd be forgiven for missing the most important development in RFID, or for dozing off if you did spot it. But earlier this month, GS1 announced the Tagged Item Performance Protocol (TIPP), a new approach to testing tags that simplifies life for retailers, suppliers and tag vendors, and ensures that tags will really work in the field.
Dematic Group, a supplier of integrated automated technology, software and services to optimize the supply chain, has acquired FSU Investments Limited, which holds a majority stake in SDI Group, a supplier of garment-on-hanger and flat sorter technology in Europe. Dematic intends to make an offer for the remaining share capital. The purchase of SDI Group Europe will expand Dematic's global order fulfillment offerings in apparel, retail and e-commerce markets.
Inventory optimization vendors are starting to leverage artificial intelligence as a means to optimize complex supply chains for large stock holdings and multiple stocking locations, according to the Technology Value Matrix for Inventory Optimization released by Nucleus Research.