Kimberly-Clark's Secrets to RFID Success
Get an in-the-trenches update on RFID from the man in charge of keeping store shelves across America stocked with Kleenex and Huggies at all times.
The technology in and of itself is not going to bring value to the supply chain. The value to the supply chain comes from reengineering your business processes and enabling that new business processes to work with the technology.
CIO: Can you give an example of where it’s working now?
Jamison: Our focus is on redesigning business process and finding a way for the technology to support that process. A perfect example of that is in what we’ve done in the area of promotional execution. We found that only 55 percent of the time our promotional displays were moving to the floor in time to meet our promotion, or advertising, dates. And that was missing a real opportunity to get that product out to our customers along with our retail partners.
So we redesigned the business process that tracks execution of our retail displays on sales floors. We developed daily reports, based on real-time data, and we included our retail operations people in the process so that on a daily basis we can identify those stores which have not executed the promotions. The retail operations people can then be dispatched to go into the stores of our retail partners, and we can get that display and product immediately on the floor.
Shortly after we implemented the new process that was enabled by the technology, we saw our execution of promotional displays improve from 55 percent to over 75 percent. We also saw a corresponding increase in point of sale. So while we saw the execution improve, we also saw sales increase at a corresponding rate. And I just think that’s an excellent example of how RFID, in combination with redesigning a business process, can have big effect on the supply chain.
CIO: Is this working for specific products, and what are those?
Jamison: This specific process we have focused on is with the Depend [adult incontinence] healthcare product. The reason why this is very critical for us is that we have a first-of-the-month promotion for that product because that’s when many of our consumers receive their Social Security checks, and we want that product available when they go shopping.
CIO: Do you think these kinds of examples—that show real RFID-enabled results—is just what the industry needs to keep the RFID momentum going?
Jamison: I think it is, and that’s one of the reasons why Kimberly-Clark is willing to show examples [of RFID successes]. Because we really believe that for RFID to work there has to be wide adoption.
