TORONTO -- SAMSys Technologies Inc., an international provider of Radio Frequency IDentification (RFID) hardware solutions has been deployed at kitchenware supplier Bradshaw International as part of an enhanced warehouse location tracking system designed to comply with Wal-Mart's RFID mandates. Bradshaw holds the No. 1 market share for kitchen accessories sold through the grocery, drugstore and mass merchandise channels with its Good Cook brand, and is among the 137 suppliers involved in the rollout phase of Wal-Mart's RFID project.
SAMSys' MP9320 UHF Long-Range Reader is being used to perform verification functions ensuring the readability of RFID tags applied to Bradshaw pallets and cases destined for Wal-Mart's pilot RFID distribution centers in Texas. MobileXe, the supply chain consultant and system integrator that designed and implemented Bradshaw's RFID system, selected the SAMSys hardware because of a proprietary open architecture that provides a wide choice of tags as well as the ability to change tag protocols now or in the future without the need to change readers.
The system that MobileXe designed for Bradshaw's 1-million-square-foot distribution center in Rancho Cucamonga, CA, incorporates Electronic Product Code (EPC) tag generation in a standard "pick to label" process. This approach to meeting RFID requirements is enabling Bradshaw to eliminate the cost of a standalone "slap and ship" or middleware solution.
EPC labels are printed and applied only to EPC-flagged items, then given to an order puller or checker. Once a pallet is full or the order is complete, the EPC items are delivered to a special verification conveyor where the SAMSys reader is installed. A photo eye triggers the reader and determines a good or bad read. A bad read stops the conveyor, triggers a light tree, and requires a manual push-button reset.
This pilot system or a variation is expected to expand to other areas of the Bradshaw facility as RFID adoption spreads, potentially creating a need for RFID equipment at each of the dozens of doors in the company's warehouse.
"Tag verification is a critical step in the RFID process, and we needed a reliable reader that provided maximum flexibility in tag selection," said Brian Foster, IT manager at Bradshaw International. "SAMSys is not affiliated with any particular tag vendor, so their multiprotocol support allowed us to pick any tag while also giving us the assurance that we will have a protocol-agnostic upgrade path as new tag technologies emerge."
"Companies like Bradshaw are leading the way on RFID through their participation in Wal-Mart's electronic product tracking initiative, and their choice of RFID equipment is setting an example for the rest of the industry," said Cliff Horwitz, chairman, CEO and president of SAMSys Technologies Inc. "The use of our readers at Bradshaw, Jack Link's Beef Jerky and for other Wal-Mart compliance projects is therefore positioning us to capture significant market share as RFID gains momentum, both to aid product tracking for trading partners and to help businesses improve their internal operations."
The SAMSys MP9320 UHF Long-Range Reader deployed at Bradshaw supports all EPC tag protocols including EPC Class 0, 0+, Class 1, ISO18000-6A, 6B, 6B "fast", Philips U-code 1.19, 1.19 "fast", Intermec Intellitag, and EM Marin 4022, 4222, 4223, and is upgradeable to EPC Class1 Gen 2. It also offers multi-regional support via configurability for North America FCC (902-928 MHz) and European ETSI (865-869 MHz) regulatory environments.
