New Course Helps Walmart Suppliers Meet EPC Requirements

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Free-Press-Release.com) November 4, 2009 -- Businesses who supply Walmart and Sam's Club can learn how to satisfy the retailers' electronic product code (EPC) shipment tagging requirements at a new one-day EPC 101 course. The course was developed and will be presented by OTA Training, the leading RFID training and certification provider, and 8th & Walton, a multinational educational organization focused on the Walmart and Sam's Club supplier community.

Walmart and Sam's Club require their suppliers to include wireless RFID tags in shipping labels for merchandise and to provide other information electronically through the Retail Link® Web portal. RFID tagging may be required of pallets, cases or individual items, and requirements also vary by the distribution center or retail store to where goods are shipped. The retailers already require some case and pallet tagging, and all pallets shipped to Sam's Club need to be tagged by the end of 2010. Many suppliers are having difficulty producing RFID labels that comply with technical and performance specifications and are not prepared to meet upcoming deadlines.

“OTA Training is known worldwide for their RFID training and certification expertise, so choosing to partner with them was a very easy decision to make because of their knowledge and dedication to the RFID user community," said Matt Fifer, Co-Founder & Managing Partner at 8th and Walton.

The EPC 101 course will update suppliers about current and future RFID tagging requirements, present options for how to comply, providing guidance for submitting information electronically through Retail Link, and provide background on RFID performance issues to help attendees develop their own successful tagging operations. The course is presented by RFID implementation experts from OTA Training and 8th & Walton who have guided hundreds of RFID users and participated in multiple real-world EPC projects. The course is taught by independent, objective RFID professionals and does not include presentations from RFID technology vendors.


“Partnering with 8th & Walton is something we are very excited about because of their knowledge of what Walmart and Sam's Club suppliers need and the pressures they face," said Robert Sabella, CEO and Founder at OTA Training. "We truly believe that when suppliers learn the interworkings of RFID technology and how it can benefit their relationship with the superstore giant, big things await.”

The companies currently offer the EPC 101 course in Bentonville, Arkansas and look forward to offering the course at additional locations as the program’s popularity grows.

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