King of Prussia, Pa.—June 18, 2012— Provider of item-level RFID infrastructure TAGSYS announced that its Fashion Item Tracking System (FiTS) ensures complete compliance with new RFID guidelines backed by U.S. retailers including Lord & Taylor, Macy’s, PVH Corp. (owner of Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger), Jockey International and Maidenform. The latest version of guidelines, published last week by independent standards administrator GS1 US, includes support for Serial Global Trade Item Number (SGTIN)-96, enabling simultaneous inventory counts and shortening lead time. This allows suppliers to have products strategically located for effective demand response to reduce replenishment cycle times.
Additionally, the support for the guidelines means any company supplying to the retailers involved in the initiative can rely on the TAGSYS system to both boost their supply chain agility and be compliant with the requirements of their retail partners, regardless of the serialization technology used—IT-based or chip-based serialization.
“We are pleased to be in full alignment with what the major suppliers and retailers are agreeing on in terms of item-level identification and tracking guidelines and we are committed to fulfilling their RFID mandate as it evolves,” said Alain Fanet, Chief Executive Officer, TAGSYS. “Based on its 15 years of experience in item-level tracking, TAGSYS is proud to offer the only end-to-end supply chain system for brand owners who want to ensure they are not only compliant with the GS1 standards, but also want to secure their investment through our support of ongoing technology convergence at the store level.”
The FITS system integrates fundamental logistics capability processes in an RFID-based information system to boost supply chain agility. The modular system provides global visibility from source to department stores; supports cross-chain collaboration; and meets fast-changing market demands.
The TAGSYS system also supports reliable and fast-encoding techniques such “Bulk Encoding” and ”Read-and-Verify,” both of which significantly improve the productivity and efficiency of the manufacturer at the point of manufacture- or the point of distribution.
“Our approach is to provide real-time visibility at each touch point in the supply chain,” said Monte R. Lucas, Vice President of Sales, TAGSYS Americas. “For example, with FiTS the manufacturer can combine UPC Item data and RFID data to code SKU’s at the distribution center (DC) level. Providing this type of insight and control at the point of distribution provides a Just In Time service to the retailer, and reduces wasted SKU's, inventory, pre-printed materials, and most importantly, inventory dollars.”
