Supermarket Perimeter - February 2019 - 66

TECHNOLOGY

INVENTORY
MANAGEMENT
by Ryan Atkinson

regional retailers absolutely need
it too, if they are to stay supply
chain competitive," he says. "We
also understood that EDI was
going to be a necessity if a retailer wanted to shift to perpetual
inventory and auto-replenishment, both of which are becoming more and more essential
each day, and neither of which
can be accomplished efficiently
without automated EDI supplier
integration."

Leveraging all the data can be
a big beneﬁt for both the supplier
and the retailer. When a supplier places items on a delivery
truck, ECRS' Catapult platform is
notiﬁed, and inventory data is automatically updated via Gateway.
With exact shipping quantities and costs correctly entered
into the system, a retailer
shouldn't need to ever re-enter data into a store or warehouse system, eliminating
headaches for both parties.

The company says the integrated nature of its food and
beverage inventory management
product enables full forward
traceability as well as comprehensive record-keeping to meet
strict compliance requirements.
SYSPRO facilitates the recording
of traceability and quality data
on materials and products from
purchasing through to inspection, manufacturing, stocking
and sales.
The recording of expiration
dates and shelf-life information is
also facilitated and powerful queries enable upward and downward searches by stock code, lot
number and transaction type.

Perpetual inventory
Today's supply chain tasks are
increasingly automated, with
stores, warehouses and suppliers sharing information through
bidirectional communication,
with no human intervention
necessary.
The tools used in this process
are Electronic Data Interchange
(EDI) and Computer-Assisted
Ordering (CAO), according to

WHAT TO TRACK

66 - FEBRUARY 2019

receipt though processing, packaging, and shipping, to the exact
customer location.
The full traceability of products
from material origin through to
manufacture and ﬁnal destination is key, says SYSPRO, a
software development company
with an industry-built Enterprise
Resource Planning solution that
counts inventory management
among its offerings.

FIFO storage of perishables
Control of expiration dates
Inventory turns
Raw material wastage
Storage condition
Multiple warehouses
Warehouse management

ECRS. And while big boxes were
the ﬁrst to implement the use of
EDI in retail environments, it's not
just for the big boys anymore.
ECRS built one of the ﬁrst
private, internet-based EDI
systems in the world, it says, and

The food safety angle
It's not just efficiency and
compatibility with retailers that makes inventory
management so vital for
producers.
To meet the stringent requirements of the Food Safety
Modernization Act and the Safe
Quality Food Standards, facilities
must be able to identify and trace
every ingredient consumed in the
manufacturing process - from

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Cost, of course
While there are an abundance
of reasons that a solid inventory
management game can beneﬁt
a facility, it's hard to ignore the
beneﬁt of saving money.
San Francisco-based Revel
Systems points out that bakeries

INVENTORY MANAGEMENT
CAN MEAN SO MUCH MORE
than just keeping track of what's
in your facility. And communication with the customer isn't just a
beneﬁt for the customer.
Boone, North Carolina-based
ECRS says it's critical to ﬁnd tools
that will cut costs while keeping
shelves stocked. Segmented
functionality and silos should be
a thing of the past.
"Bidirectional data communication between your enterprise
and any supplier removes wasted
labor or the need for costly
third-party services," the company says.
With ECRS's Gateway, suppliers
are directly linked to Catapult, the
company's solution that connects inventory and supply chain,
reporting and analytics, POS,
payments and more.
Using a system like this, companies can eliminate out-of-stock
scenarios and cut excess inventory costs while utilizing
powerful inventory tracking,
demand forecasting, and
*
automated replenishment
*
functions. It can be a pow*
erful tool regardless of what
*
side of the ordering process
*
it's used on - either retailer
*
to commissary or commis*
sary to supplier.
Pete Catoe, ECRS's president and CEO, says Gateway now
has nearly 90 supplier partners
and more than 800 connected
retail locations
"From our perspective, if EDI
is good enough for the retail
Goliaths, then our local and

dedicated the system to the sole
purpose of helping local and
regional grocers, specialty food,
and natural food retailers. It was a
tool for when those local and regional retailers realized the need
for perpetual inventory.
"Internet-based EDI like ECRS
Gateway enable retailers of every
size to stay competitive in the
supply chain, leveling the playing
ﬁeld," says Catoe.

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Supermarket Perimeter - February 2019

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