Kimberly-Clark Deploys OATSystems Mobile RFID Tagging Solution for In-Store Product Promotions

April 9, 2007 // Published as a news service by IHS

Like other consumer product companies, Kimberly-Clark invests significantly in in-store product promotions using as a primary vehicle a manufactured display that features the promoted product.

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These displays are typically shipped from Kimberly-Clark's contracted manufacturers directly to retailers' stores.

All too frequently, operational challenges prevent these displays from reaching the sales floor at the beginning of the promotional period.

In fact, industry statistics show that between 15% to 40% of stores fail to move displays to the sales floor on time missing critical promotional windows and the opportunity to increase sales, said OATSystems.

Working with OATSystems, Kimberly-Clark solved this operational problem using RFID technology and a mobile tagging solution.

The solution, which incorporates the Mobile Tagging Station from ADASA Inc., enables Kimberly-Clark's third-party contract manufacturers to apply RFID tags to promotional displays. In-store RFID readers read the displays' tags to record when they reach the backroom of the store and again when the displays reach the sales floor.

When a display's tag is read, data is sent to Kimberly-Clark and the retailer showing whether the display reached the sales floor on time. With this innovation, Kimberly-Clark and its retail customers can intervene promptly when displays fail to reach the sales floor on time. This benefits Kimberly-Clark, the retailer and the consumer by ensuring promoted products are where customers expect them to be.

The OAT Mobile Tag solution will also enable Kimberly-Clark to support RFID-enabled stores in new geographies, conduct RFID proofs of concept and explore other RFID applications to improve performance. With this new capability, Kimberly-Clark will enrich its information flow substantially and thereby manage its promotions with greater precision to improve bottom-line results, said OATSystems.

Before OAT introduced Mobile Tag, companies either had to deploy costly fixed, enterprise-connected RFID technology or take an unconnected approach that offered limited visibility, failed to ensure data quality and sapped the value of RFID data, said OATSystems. OAT Mobile Tag is designed to provide enterprise connectivity at a moderate cost and without fixed infrastructure requirements.

In addition, OATSystems said that Kimberly-Clark signed an enterprise license agreement to purchase the OATSystems' OAT Foundation Suite as part of its global RFID initiatives. The OAT Foundation Suite is an RFID solution that includes encoding tags, managing tag readers and gathering and analyzing electronic product code data.

Kimberly-Clark said it plans to use the OAT Foundation Suite generally to increase efficiencies within its entire global supply chain and specifically to improve promotion management and other critical business functions including goods movement within distribution centers, proof of delivery and shipment reconciliations.

The OAT Mobile Tag solution includes software to manage the electronic product code number allocation and the business process including coding, applying, verifying tags, verifying shipment and exchanging data between remote facilities and corporate headquarters.

The ADASA Mobile Tagging Station includes the PAD3500 mobile encoder, which can be worn on a belt and commission thousands of Gen2 electronic product tags per hour, a laptop running OAT software and a Symbol Technologies RFID and bar code handheld device. All are within a hardened case that weighs less than 50 pounds and is small enough to travel as checked baggage on most airlines, said OATSystems.

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The OAT Mobile Tag solution and ADASA Mobile Tagging Station are available for deployment.

Source: OATSystems Inc.