by US correspondent Roger Renstrom
Use of radio frequency identification (RFID) technology continues to make its mark in the forklift industry with implementations and expanded trials.

American retailer Wal-Mart Stores Inc is transitioning to newer RFID technology and system provider ID Systems Inc has disclosed additional details on a strategic agreement with Nacco Materials Handling Group (NMHG) and its units Yale Materials Handling Corp (YMHC) and Hyster Company.

Wal-Mart is moving toward generation 2 RFID technology in trial locations and "sun-setting gen 1 on June 30", Rollin Ford, Wal-Mart executive vice president said. Wal-Mart, of Bentonville, Arkansas, was reportedly ordering 15,000 gen 2 readers.

Simon Langford, Wal-Mart RFID strategies manager, said Wal-Mart had been piloting beta-type RFID-enabled forklifts in a laboratory for proof-of-concept tests that began in January.

The firm intends soon to run pilot tests on the effectiveness of RFID-enabled forklifts at six RFID-enabled Sam's Club locations. The plans call for use of forklifts in tagging cases and pallets of goods during transport in storage and sales areas. A forklift interrogator will read location tags in shelves holding the pallets and enable workers to use the data to determine the location of tagged merchandise.

ID Systems formalised a marketing agreement with NMHG on April 11, its first with a forklift manufacturer. The firms demonstrated the technology at NA 2006 in March (Forkliftaction.com News #254).

Greg Smith, ID Systems vice president of marketing and corporate communications, said ID Systems would attend regional dealer meetings, assist NMHG, of Portland, Oregon, USA, in putting together a corporate strategy and work through the YMHC and Hyster sales organisations to support introduction of RFID technology.

With installation and maintenance requirements, RFID represented "a new potential revenue stream for [forklift] dealers", Smith said.

A system may add "a few thousand dollars onto the cost of a forklift" but ID Systems had found the payback period was about 12 months-18 months.

Bruce Pelynio, YMHC director of parts sales, said the technology gave YMHC an opportunity "to tailor fleet management solutions to fit diverse customer needs". Gary Bates, Hyster director of parts sales, said Hyster envisioned meeting customer and dealer requirements "from basic remote data collection for maintenance management to full-scale fleet control, tracking and analysis".

Nasdaq-traded ID Systems, of New Jersey, has installations in 40 Ford Motor Co plants, 40 United States Postal Service (USPS) bulk processing and distribution facilities, all Target Corp distribution centres in the USA and, in an incremental rollout, up to six Walgreen Co distribution centres. For the Target and Walgreen applications, "the preponderance is forklifts", Smith said.

Under a three-year contract, up to 460 USPS sites can order ID Systems' wireless devices for installation on forklifts and pallet movers.
"We are focused on expanding our strategic position in the forklift marketplace," Smith said. "We have relationships with all the forklift manufacturers."

Collaboration with forklift manufacturers has emerged as an important step for RFID technology providers, such as Symbol Technologies Inc, of New York; Intermec Inc, of Washington; LXE Inc, of Georgia; Alien Technology Corp of California; Neology Inc, of Mexico; Impinj Inc, of Washington; and ClarIDy Solutions Inc, of Taiwan.