Anne Bruce Tesco will work out an implementation programme for radio frequency source tagging through trials of the various technologies from supplier to store and in stores over the next 12 months. It has been negotiating details of its proposals with "more than one" large packaged goods supplier, according to its recently appointed director of strategic development, Philip Robbins­Jones. He said Tesco was ready to start experimenting with tagging a number of high value product lines from source to store, and tagging as many high value items as possible in a concept store. He said: "RFID technology is mature enough now to do something with, and we are about to get very energetic about it. We have a strategic vision for it, and will be evaluating more than one version of the technology in end-to­end trials with suppliers who are also interested in what benefits RFID can bring in the short term." He said Tesco did not expect RFID to cut distribution costs, but source tagging would pay for itself by boosting availability in store and increasing customer satisfaction. Tags alone currently cost at least 5 cents each, even when used in large volumes, but technological advances are driving that down. Robbins­Jones said: "In the short and medium term Tesco business processes can benefit from trials, and in one year's time we will have worked out a step-by-step strategy on implementing source tagging." Sainsbury trialled RF tags at depot level two years ago, but has not yet taken the trial forward. Asda is also monitoring the technology. Marks and Spencer has already started phasing in tags in a three year project. {{NEWS }}

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