Five years ago, when Wal-Mart Stores Inc. issued a startling mandate that its suppliers must adopt radio frequency identification technology, Daisy Brand Inc. quickly volunteered to be first out of the gate. Today, the family-owned dairy products supplier is fully compliant with those Wal-Mart requirements, tagging every pallet that leaves its warehouses. The effort has been a boon to Dallas-based Daisy Brand, cutting in half the time it takes to load its delivery trucks. But Wal-Mart's mandate didn't work out so well - or even work out at all - for most of its other suppliers. The retail giant says that many of its 600 top suppliers, which account for three-fourths of the company's sales volume, use RFID technology today to "some degree." Most of the rest - some 60,000 strong - are not using it at all. Once the implementation difficulties for its suppliers - and for Wal-Mart itself - became clear, the retailer backed away from the RFID mandate, which remains in limbo today.
展开▼
