The Spar group has concluded an agreement with Destiny e-commerce to replace the grocery retail group`s former dial-up EDI (`Electronic Data Interchange`) facility in each of its distribution centres (DC`s). Spar will in future use Destiny`s translation service, to place orders electronically.
According to Keith Dromgool, Spar Group technology manager responsible for initiating this project on site, the benefits to Spar are twofold : "Firstly, we did not have to make a huge financial and human resource investment in the project, and secondly, should there be any technological advances in the transmission of structured data within the supply chain, through the translation service it provides, Destiny will automatically upgrade our facilities," Dromgool comments.
"Essentially, we are seeking to push costs out of the supply chain, not simply shift them from retailer to supplier," he maintains.
"We recognise that improving process efficiency within the dynamic and demanding retail supply chain context is a challenge which all those retailers who wish to participate successfully within the 21st century must take up - or cease to exist," says Solly Engelbrecht, warehouse systems manager at Spar.
"The improved Destiny service is a very real first step that we have taken in the direction to improve Spar`s supply chain efficiency, drive unnecessary costs out and progress nearer our ultimate goal of 100 % customer satisfaction," he adds.
Engelbrecht explains that with the assistance of Destiny`s community development (that is how it has be positioned to Spar) program, The Spar Group is now in a much better position to encourage more suppliers to trade electronically.
The document translation and integration service allows Destiny to effectively relay electronic orders on behalf of Spar to its suppliers in a variety of standard document formats - for example, e-mail, Web, EDI and fax.
"This means that no more maintenance work is required on EDI translation software in each of our DC`s, and as a group, Spar no longer needs to deploy human resources to manage the transmission of EDI messages," comments Dromgool.
"From a procurement perspective, this new service provides an Internet interface that will enable buyers to track the status of their orders," states Andrew Armstrong, the retail sector manager responsible for driving the implementation on Destiny`s side.
According to Armstrong, buyers will not have to spend valuable productive time tracking orders in the system.
Armstrong concludes that this demonstrates a tangible way in which Spar, partnered with Destiny, has effectively begun driving costs out of the supply chain, enabling them to respond to their consumers more efficiently.
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