| VERNON HILLS, Ill., March 14 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Zebra Technologies (Nasdaq: ZBRA - News), a global leader in on-demand printing solutions for business improvement, continues to reinforce its leadership position in the rapid progression towards radio frequency identification (RFID) implementation in manufacturing and distribution supply chains. As a featured co-sponsor of the recent Xtalks Webcast, "Making a Difference," with keynote speaker Simon Langford, Wal-Mart's manager of RFID strategy, Zebra once again joined with other industry leaders to advance RFID adoption for retailer compliance mandates and leverage RFID implementation to foster internal process improvements that lead to greater efficiency, productivity, and customer service, while reducing operating costs and enhancing return on investment. The Webcast drew more than 800 retail, manufacturing, pharmaceutical, consumer packaged goods, and supply chain industry executives from more than two dozen countries and hundreds of companies, such as Time Warner, Michelin, Timex, Motorola, American Greetings, Nintendo of America, Dow Chemical, JC Penney, IBM, Pfizer, Kimberly-Clark, and UPS, among others.
In his presentation, Simon Langford, head of global RFID strategy for Wal-Mart Stores Inc., acknowledged that bar code technology transformed the way retailers and their suppliers do business, and predicted that RFID will "revolutionize" the industry in much the same way. Langford emphasized that while RFID adoption is a journey that is just beginning, he projects significant benefits for Wal-Mart customers (specifically in the form of zero out-of-stocks), suppliers, and the company itself.
Bob Cornick, Zebra Technologies' vice president and general manager of RFID, notes: "The momentum of RFID adoption and serious interest in the supply chain is very encouraging, especially when you consider how long it took for other transformative technologies to take hold. As a leading technology-savvy retailer, Wal-Mart is a catalyst." Cornick adds, "As a result of the RFID learning curve over the last two years, suppliers are also starting to see the benefits RFID can deliver in terms of end-to-end supply chain visibility, product protection, inventory management and speed-to-market. Zebra intends to remain at the forefront of RFID product development, testing and the ongoing education of our customers, to ensure they continue to realize these benefits."
In charting the progress of RFID implementation at Wal-Mart, Langford explained that 104 Wal-Mart Stores, 36 Sam's Clubs and three distribution centers have already been installed with RFID receiving systems. By the middle of January, 57 suppliers had gone live -- with Wal-Mart receiving more than 7,000 tagged pallets and 210,000 tagged cases. Langford added that today, more than 100 Wal-Mart suppliers are successfully complying with the RFID mandate and the next 200 suppliers are on target for 2006. Zebra currently works closely with a majority of the companies expected to comply with RFID industry mandates in 2005 and 2006.
In November 2004, Zebra introduced two high-performance UHF EPC multi-protocol printer/encoders (the Zebra R110Xi and R170Xi) to help companies meet RFID labeling requirements now and into the future. These were the sixth and seventh RFID printer/encoders to be introduced by Zebra last year, and the product development continues.
"2004 was primarily the year of pilot testing RFID technology," says Matt Ream, senior manager for RFID systems at Zebra. "2005 is the year of deployment. We will continue to meet the needs of our customers with the widest selection of RFID and 'RFID-Ready' printing solutions available today, and to support our products, our nationwide network of RFID-certified Zebra partners, and collaborative test labs to help companies learn how they can evaluate their RFID needs, build the right infrastructure, and reengineer their processes to ensure success and optimize ROI."
A member of EPCglobal, and a technology sponsor of the former Auto-ID Center at MIT, Zebra is playing a leading role in the development of RFID "smart label" technology, standards and applications for supply chain and business improvement programs designed to help suppliers to the U.S. Department of Defense, Wal-Mart and other retailers meet the RFID EPC compliance labeling requirements.
As a pioneer and leader in RFID printing/encoding technologies, Zebra has been researching and developing RFID technologies for more than eight years and was the first company to produce an integrated, on-demand RFID printer/encoder -- the R140 -- nearly five years ago. Zebra's popular R402 desktop model followed in 2002. Today, Zebra has the most complete line of RFID products.
The "Making a Difference" Webcast featuring Wal-Mart and EPCglobal was produced and broadcasted by Xtalks, a leading executive networking, event management, Web conferencing, publishing, and digital media company, and sponsored by Zebra, Acsis Inc., and Symbol Technologies.
For more information about Zebra's RFID printer/encoders, call +1 800 423 0442, or to request a copy of Zebra's application white paper, "RFID Readiness Guide: Complying with RFID Tagging Mandates," please visit http://www.rfid.zebra.com .
About Zebra Technologies
Zebra Technologies Corp. (Nasdaq: ZBRA - News) delivers innovative and reliable on-demand printing solutions for business improvement and security applications in 90 countries around the world. More than 90 percent of Fortune 500 companies use Zebra-brand printers. A broad range of applications benefit from Zebra-brand thermal bar code, "smart" label, receipt, and card printers, resulting in enhanced security, increased productivity, improved quality, lower costs, and better customer service. The company has sold more than four million printers, including RFID printer/encoders and wireless mobile solutions, and also offers software, connectivity solutions and printing supplies. Information about Zebra bar code and RFID products can be found at http://www.zebra.com .
CONTACT: Suzette Sexton +1 847 509 3099
suzette@outlookmarketingsrv.com |