Pet products maker knows the rules for systematic compliance labeling

Compliance labeling is routine now for manufacturers in many vertical industries. But it still remains complicated, and keeping costs to a minimum is an ongoing goal—just ask CIO Roy Gallagher.

“Roughly 90 percent of our sales revenue comes from Wal-Mart, Target, Petco, and Petsmart, which require specific label formatting and content,” says Gallagher, CIO at Doskocil Manufacturing, an Arlington, Texas-based supplier of Petmate brand carriers, kennels, bedding, and feeders.

“Compliance labeling can be a tricky business because you must meet customer requirements. They will fine you if the labels aren't correct,” Gallagher says. “It definitely requires a systematic approach, or it will cost you.”

Doskocil's approach combines the Oracle E-Business Suite with ClearOrbit real-time supply chain execution software that works within existing enterprise systems to expand functionality.

According to Warren Sumner, ClearOrbit's VP of marketing and products, manufacturers and distributors obviously need a careful strategy for RFID compliance, but they cannot abandon their current bar-code infrastructure investment. ClearOrbit believes that for years to come, a "hybrid" RFID-bar code approach will be required to allow these two technologies to coexist harmoniously within the supply chain. ClearOrbit's Compliance Label Manager enables companies to future-proof their RFID strategies.

Compliance Label Manager—a rules-based software module—enables Doskocil to define and manage varied label formats and business rules governing the way items are labeled for outbound shipment. It also is used to create embedded smart tags for customers requiring RFID shipments. Doskocil also can configure rules to define the content and type of label formats and RFID tags, leading to dynamic selection based on customer, ship-to location, material type, and other criteria.

“The rules engine determines what data is needed on a label to meet that retailer's request so the label can be printed without manual intervention,” Gallagher says.

That capability is one that's seen as increasingly vital—not just to automate the labeling process, but also to differentiate among labels and customers. What's more, multiple sites for one customer may have different labeling requirements, Gallagher says.

“Right now, Wal-Mart is our only customer requiring RFID tags,” Gallagher says, "but not all Wal-Mart warehouses require an RFID tag.”

With Compliance Label Manager, the rules engine determines that a shipment going to a warehouse requires both a bar-code label and an RFID tag, or exclusively a bar-code tag.

“We are able to meet a customer's requirement for an RFID tag when needed, and we are spared the costly expense of printing RFID tags we don't need," explains Gallagher. “Wal-Mart may be Doskocil's only customer currently requiring RFID, but others are thinking about it. As Wal-Mart gains the expected efficiencies of using RFID, other retailers will jump onboard. When that happens, we'll be prepared because we use Compliance Label Manager and have experience meeting Wal-Mart's RFID requirements.”