Metro Group sees progress at pilot project for frozen food RFID system in Germany.

Germany's Metro Group is moving forward with its rollout and testing of RFID technology. At the end of November, it announced details of an RFID pilot project at a distribution center for frozen foods in Hamm, Germany.

The retailer is testing passive EPC RFID tags on pallets to automate the receipt and storage of goods, as well as track its inventory, said Christian Plenge, Metro's head of research and innovation. He added that Metro has placed RFID tags on 11,000 bins (storage locations for pallets) and installed interrogators on 15 forklifts at the frozen food center, a 10,000-square-meter facility that maintains temperatures as low as -24[degrees] Celsius. The center has been outfitted with 75 antennas linked to 30 RFID readers, and three RFID printer-encoders.

The frozen food facility receives roughly 135,000 tagged pallets each year. Pallets are tagged internally or come from more than 150 suppliers participating in the company's tagging program. According to Plenge, Metro plans to increase this number to 400 for 2008.

At the pallet level, Metro has already made substantial progress with its RFID rollout. Internally, the retailer is tagging 100% of its own pallets that are delivered from one distribution center to all its Cash & Carry stores.