New Balance Achieves Early Success with Item-Level RFID

Solution from Vue Technology, Motorola, and Avery Dennison Delivers Increased Inventory Accuracy from Distribution Center to the Retail Store

LAKE FOREST, California—January 14, 2008 — Vue Technology, the leading provider of item-level RFID solutions, today announced that New Balance, the global athletic company, has successfully implemented an item-level RFID solution to track footwear from the distribution center to the corporate factory store.  Using Vue Technology’s TrueVUE Platform combined with tags from Avery Dennison Retail Information Services, and handheld and fixed RFID readers and antennas from Motorola’s Enterprise Mobility business; New Balance has achieved its goal of the item-level implementation -- greater inventory visibility and improved accuracy at the item level.

“Our goal was to gain improved visibility into item-level inventory levels at every step along the supply chain – from the distribution center, to the store backroom and all the way to the retail shelf,” said Jim Tompkins, president and COO of New Balance.  “The solution deployed by Vue Technology, Motorola and Avery Dennison has helped us to achieve greater than 99.5 percent item-level accuracy.  As we continue forward into the next phases, we expect this visibility to enable reductions in receiving and replenishment labor costs, reductions in inventory levels, and reduced stockroom retrievals.”  

Beyond yielding direct benefits, New Balance expects that their experience and success will offer valuable insights that they can share with their retail partners.  “We have consistently seen our customers experience dramatic results using item-level RFID,” said Robert Locke, CEO of Vue Technology. “New Balance provides further proof that item-level RFID technology is able to deliver value in real-world environments today, and how the TrueVUE RFID Platform is uniquely suited to help organizations achieve success with their RFID initiatives.”

Vue Technology’s TrueVUE RFID platform is the industry’s first completely scalable item-level solution that enables unprecedented visibility into inventory levels, location and authenticity while eliminating the prohibitive cost barriers previously associated with item-level RFID roll-outs. Benefits to retailers include enhanced customer experience, reductions in out-of-stocks and shrinkage, increased employee productivity and increased sales. The TrueVUE RFID platform has delivered dramatic results in numerous customer pilots and offers retailers the immediate resources necessary to complete an enterprise RFID roll-out.

“Vue Technology’s ability to partner with other leading RFID providers such as Avery Dennison and Motorola enabled us to deliver a complete solution that exceeded New Balance’s objectives for inventory visibility and paves the way for broader deployment of item-level RFID,” added Locke.  “We look forward to continued collaboration with New Balance and our partners in the future.”

About Avery Dennison Corporation
Avery Dennison is a global leader in pressure-sensitive labeling materials, retail tag, ticketing and branding systems and office products. Based in Pasadena, Calif., Avery Dennison is a FORTUNE 500 Company with 2006 sales of $5.6 billion. Following the acquisition of Paxar in 2007, Avery Dennison employs more than 30,000 individuals in over 50 countries worldwide who develop, manufacture and market a wide range of products for both consumer and industrial markets. Products offered by Avery Dennison include: Fasson brand self-adhesive materials; Avery Dennison and Paxar brand products for the retail and apparel industries; Avery brand office products and graphics imaging media; specialty tapes, peel-and-stick postage stamps, and labels for a wide variety of automotive, industrial and durable goods applications.

Visit: www.ris.averydennison.com

About New Balance

New Balance, headquartered in Boston, MA has the following mission: Demonstrating responsible leadership, we build global brands that athletes are proud to wear, associates are proud to create and communities are proud to host.  New Balance employs more than 2,800 people around the globe, and in 2006 reported worldwide sales of $1.55 billion.  For more information please visit http://www.newbalance.com.

About Vue Technology (www.vuetechnology.com)

Vue Technology is the leading provider of item-level RFID solutions, offering breakthrough RFID infrastructure components and a powerful software suite that delivers the most scalable, reliable, and ROI-driven RFID solutions on the market. Vue’s TrueVUE™ RFID Platform provides the industry’s only unified RFID infrastructure that allows customers to manage dock doors, portals, mobile devices, smart surfaces and smart shelves to achieve RFID visibility down to the item-level.

With its patented RF Networking devices and UHF enabled VUEPointsTM, Vue allows standard readers to network across thousands of antennas, exponentially increasing the number of zones that readers can support and dramatically reducing the cost barriers previously associated with item-level RFID roll-outs.  Combined with an integrated software suite for device and network.

Tony Standley
The RETAiL Alert Group (Australia)
Mobile +61 (0)41 924 0497
e-mail info@adsass.com.au
Fax +61 (0)2 9987 0633
Website http://www.retailalert.com.au
 
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