Sept/Oct 2004

As Marks & Spencer goes live with what is said to be the biggest-yet trial of RFID in a garment-specific operation, one of the suppliers, printer maker Paxar UK, has announced a software system that allows other users to benefit from automatic generation and printing of labels incorporating RFID codes. These meet the EPC (Electronic Product Code) standard.

The software comes from US-based Shipcom Wireless, whose Catamaran system has been matched to Paxar's Monarch 9855 printer-encoder. The software enables users to create a database of products and other information needed to generate EPCs, and then assigns specific EPCs to the cases and pallets.

Using the Shipcom software and Paxar printer-encoder, companies can then test an RFID tag, encode it with an EPC, print a label with a barcode and human-readable characters, and verify that the data was written to the tag properly.

Paxar has also formed a relationship with RFID tag specialist Intellident, which is participating in the M&S operation trial (now in its second phase). It involves tests on men's suits at six of Marks & Spencer's London stores. The tags developed for the garment trial are contained within 'throwaway' paper labels called Intelligent Labels.