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The interest in cross docking continues to be high, even if the actual implementation of cross docking outside of the retail sector is still modest at best.

The opportunity to reduce distribution and sometimes inventory costs through cross docking is a powerful incentive for more companies to consider the practice - though there are many challenges, especially for non-retailers that must be more specific in how goods are fulfilled for customer shipments and cannot take advantage of the "door per store" concept often used in retail.

The explosion of global trade over the past decade or more, and the expansion of sourcing, transportation and distribution networks that enabled it, has stretched the resources of all but the largest multinational corporations. Demanding service levels and high costs—for everything from fuel to regulatory compliance—make supply chain management even more of a top priority in tough competitive conditions. Producers that have made cutbacks in their own organizations to reduce costs may even more than ever lack adequate logistics infrastructure, capable decision support tools, necessary capital and operating scale as a result of recession.

In a move that many in the RFID community knew WalMart has been planning for months, news came late last week that the retail giant was planning an ambitious program to RFID tag all the apparel goods it sells at the item level. The new has buoyed RFID system providers, who hope that program will re-energize the use of RFID in the consumer goods to retail sector, caused privacy experts to raise concerns about the impact on consumers, and has everyone wondering if WalMart will finally get its RFID program right on the third try.

The WalMart program will start with tagging of men's jeans and basics (socks, undershirts and underwear). It has been working with suppliers of those products for many months, with word starting to leak out into the industry starting this past Spring.