March 1, 2012, I joined some luminaries from Tyco and the community at the the ribbon cutting ceremony at Tyco’s new Retail Performance Briefing Center in Boca Raton, Florida.
I love attending these events. Ribbon cuttings mark accomplishments and milestones for a company, a community, and the industry. Political and community luminaries attend them. Many people will remember that Boca Raton in Florida was becoming a hot tech center for a while with firms like IBM, Tyco, and others making this their home in the late 90s, only to see big changes in the tech sector drain some of the tech presence. So, local politicians are quite happy to appear at these events. Jobs and investment count!
From left to right: Council Member Mike Mullaugh; George Oliver, President of Tyco Fire Protection;
and Scott Clements, President of Tyco Retail Solutions
Tyco Retail Solutions, a recently formed group in the Tyco family, has made significant strides in their application of technology that encompasses the total retail experience. As Scott Clements, President of Tyco Retail Solutions said, “Our customers have a lot more problems, beyond loss prevention,” and this was clearly demonstrated at the multimedia event.
At the grand opening of this retail demonstration center, Tyco walked us through the whole process: supply chain, inbound logistics, pricing, checkout, inventory management, analytics for store operations, and, of course, loss prevention.
Some interesting factoids emerged from the meeting. Since the advent of RFID, tagging has moved from store tagging to suppliers with over 50 percent of all retailers doing source-level tagging. Tags today have mastered environmental and product packaging issues with foil, metal, and water and can be used from apparel to grocery, hardware, and home appliances, to name a few categories.
Tyco has been extremely clever in creating technology that blends in with the business process and is unobtrusive to the typical shopper, but protects the assets of the retailer (i.e. loss prevention). We learned how Tyco tackles organized crime groups who use all sorts of technologies to try to scam the system.
But on a more positive note, as Clements pointed out, technology needs to enable improved business performance. The retail sector provides one out of every four jobs in America and is a huge source of economic growth in product innovation and trade. However, a large portion of the customer-facing side consists of ‘lightly’ trained workers with huge turn-over in the work force. So technology needs to be easy to use and enable better performance in-store and across the business to support company growth and profitability.
Tyco’s opening is a positive sign, no matter how you view the recent announcement of plans to split Tyco into three companies (read WSJ article). Tyco’s units have created so much value for shareholders that each unit can thrive and grow on its own, it appears.
About Tyco Retail Solutions
Tyco Retail Solutions, a unit of Tyco International, is a leading global provider of integrated retail performance and security solutions, deployed today at more than 80 percent of the world’s top 200 retailers. Customers range from single-store boutiques to global retail enterprises. Operating in more than 70 countries worldwide, Tyco Retail Solutions provides retailers with real-time visibility to their inventory and assets to improve operations, optimize profitability, and create memorable shopper experiences.
The Tyco Retail Solutions portfolio for retailers is sold through ADT and authorized business partners around the world. For more information, please visit www.tycoretailsolutions.com.
About Tyco International
Tyco International Ltd. (NYSE: TYC) is a diversified company that provides vital products and services to customers around the world. Tyco is a leading provider of security products and services, fire protection and detection products and services, and industrial valves and controls. Tyco had 2011 revenue of approximately $17.4 billion and has more than 100,000 employees worldwide. More information on Tyco can be found at www.tyco.com.
To view other articles from this issue of the brief, click here.