(Halle/Westphalia, 22 September 2010) GERRY WEBER International AG yesterday received the coveted ECR Award 2010 in the category “Corporate Cooperation – Supply-Side” at an event in Hamburg, Germany. The prestigious jury awarded GERRY WEBER and their project partners - Modehaus Jost, Avery Dennison, Fiege, Meyer&Meyer, Hellmann and Deutsche Post DHL - the prize for successfully implementing their innovative “RFID for the Textile Supply Chain” project. The ECR Award honours outstanding corporate cooperation consistently focusing on consumer needs.

Together with its partners, GERRY WEBER International AG launched the “RFID for the Textile Supply Chain” project at the end of 2009 for its entire international supply chain, using RFID to optimise logistics and retail processes.

The goal of the winning project was to provide a textile RFID label, combining anti-theft security, manufacturer care information and an Electronic Product Code (EPC), directly into the production process for all 25 million pieces of clothing made by the GERRY WEBER International AG brand each year.

“By changing production procedures, incorporating our logistics partners and optimising both warehouse logistics and retail processes, as well as cooperating with our wholesale customers, we gain many advantages in all areas of the supply chain,” explains Christian von Grone, project manager and head of IT and Organisation at GERRY WEBER International AG. In order to achieve a common approach and maximise cost savings, GERRY WEBER is dedicated to using and enforcing EPCGlobal and GS1 standards.

All project partners were involved in the pilot phase and both Modehaus Jost and the HOUSES OF GERRY WEBER have been using RFID technology for managing goods on the shopfloor since November 2009. Avery Dennison, the global leader in innovative product labelling, developed the textile care label. Logistics companies Meyer&Meyer, Fiege, DHL and Hellmann simultaneously implemented RFID technology at their distribution centres in Germany and abroad. DHL Global Forwarding, the world leader in air and sea freight, and Hellmann are responsible for transportation management from China to Germany.

The new technology, which goes beyond retail security, has led to huge improvements in logistic processes. The Electronic Product Code makes it easier to record both hanging and stacked GERRY WEBER garments and improves the transparency in the logistics Chain. RFID speeds up processes for incoming goods and stocktaking, so store employees are less involved in the process and have more time for customer service. Shrinkage has also gone down. The company has an accurate overview of its stock levels at all times and is able to make adjustments faster and more accurately.

GERRY WEBER International AG, with more than 382 HOUSES OF GERRY WEBER worldwide and more than 1,800 shop-in-shops, is the first company in Germany to use RFID throughout its entire supply chain process and as a retail security technology.

ECR Award
ECR stands for "Efficient Consumer Response" – and means consistently focusing on consumer needs. This year GS1 Germany awarded the prize for the 8th time. The ECR Award for corporate cooperation is given to ECR projects which demonstrate excellence in cooperative management for the benefit of consumers and the economy. There are two awards – one for supply side projects and the other for demand-side projects. The ECR Award for the Entrepreneur and Individual Company categories is given to those who consistently recognise the long term merits of ECR and implement its philosophies.