Walmart EPC: WalMart Expands Electronic Product Code Goals; Retailer Wraps Up ...

From PR Newswire (press release) ... shipped to WalMart's Sanger, Texas, distribution center and then onward to seven local Supercenters with radio frequency identification, or RFID, tags attached ...

WalMart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) operates WalMart Stores, Supercenters, Neighborhood Markets and SAM'S CLUB locations in the United States. Internationally, the company operates in Puerto Rico, Canada, China, Mexico, Brazil, Germany, United Kingdom, Argentina, and South Korea. The company's securities are listed on the New York and Pacific stock exchanges under the symbol WMT.

WalMart launched its initial implementation on April 30 in the North Texas area. Cases and pallets of 21 products from eight suppliers are being shipped to WalMart's Sanger, Texas, distribution center and then onward to seven local Supercenters with radio frequency identification, or RFID, tags attached. This technology allows retailers greater inventory visibility from supplier to distribution center to a store's backroom. WalMart initially announced its EPC initiative in June 2003. At the time, the company stated that the first phase of implementation would involve its top 100 suppliers tagging cases and pallets of products headed to three Dallas/Fort Worth area distribution centers by January 2005. Since then, an additional 37 suppliers have voluntarily asked to meet that same milestone.