DHL, METRO announce big RFID retail rollout
18 August, 2008
category: RFID
Freight deliverer DHL and European retailer METRO Group have announced they will cooperate to launch France’s largest RFID-enabled retail logistics system.
Beginning in fall 2008, DHL will use RFID tags to track all its shipments to the 89 Metro Cash & Carry wholesale stores in France. This translates to around 1.3 million pallets being tracked each year throughout the supply chain.
As part of the new system, five DHL food logistics centers will equip all shipments to the METRO wholesale stores with RFID tags. The tags will be scanned during the loading process, and the data electronically transmitted to the individual stores. When the shipments are received, the tags scanned again and the delivery checked against the order.
The project is the result of longstanding cooperation between the two companies to bring technological innovation to the retail industry. DHL has been a partner of the METRO Group Future Store Initiative since 2004. In July of this year, METRO Group became the first retail company to join the DHL Innovation Initiative, a network mainly consisting of technology companies.