UPM Raflatac Exclusively Supplies RFID Tags to Galeria Kaufhof Pilot


(UPM Raflatac, Tampere, October 22, 2007) - UPM Raflatac is delivering EPC Class 1 Gen 2 compliant UHF tags to Galeria Kaufhof, a division of METRO Group. Galeria Kaufhof launched an item-level RFID pilot in its department store in Essen, Germany in September 2007. Every single item of approximately 30,000 in the 2,000 sqm men's fashion department has been tagged to enable an entirely new kind of shopping experience incorporating smart shelves, mirrors and dressing rooms.

UPM Raflatac's Web RFID tag was selected by METRO Group as it offers outstanding performance in item-level apparel tagging. Thanks to its global functionality, Web can be used throughout the supply chain, from manufacturer to retail store. All operations in the chain can be tagged with a single product.

Galeria Kaufhof's in-store RFID operations, which include mobile inventory management capabilities, portals, changing rooms, smart shelves and point-of-sale stations, require close proximity reading performance from the tags. UPM Raflatac's Web tag, powered by Impinj's Monza(TM) chip, meets this requirement thanks to wide broadband capabilities and excellent read performance in both the near and far field.

"UPM Raflatac has invested a lot of time and effort to create an optimal RFID tag for global fashion supply chain management and in-store operations. UPM Raflatac's major role in the Galeria Kaufhof pilot is again excellent proof of our application understanding and tag design capabilities," says Mr Samuli Strmberg, VP Marketing, RFID at UPM Raflatac.

About UPM Raflatac

UPM Raflatac is at the global forefront in the development and high-volume production of HF and UHF radio frequency identification (RFID) tags and inlays. In addition, the company is a world-leading supplier of self-adhesive label materials for a wide variety of needs in product and information labelling.

UPM Raflatac, which forms UPM's Label Division, has around 2,500 employees and made sales of approximately EUR 1 billion in 2006. The company has a global service network consisting of 11 factories on five continents and a broad network of distribution and slitting terminals and sales offices worldwide. Further information is available at www.upmraflatac.com.

For further information please contact:
Mr Samuli Strmberg, VP Marketing, RFID, UPM Raflatac, tel. +358 40 740 9588

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