Food Logistics serves the entire food supply chain industry with targeted content for manufacturers, retailers, and distributors.
Issue link: https://foodlogistics.epubxp.com/i/467905
www.foodlogistics.com FOOD LOGISTICS • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2015 45 storage warehouses. Allan Brothers reports that programmer time for adding search fields to pages has been reduced with the new filter features. In addition, the company can now handle more information faster, thanks to a nearly 75 percent reduction in network band- width and the ability of the application server and web server components to run on 64-bit versions of Windows servers. "We needed to make some infra- structure changes to keep up with our growth," says Autumn Bernier, CIO and systems manager, Allan Brothers. "The enhanced graphing capabili- ties have given us greater visibility into our inventory and customer trends." Supermercados Peruanos, Peru's second largest supermarket and hypermarket chain, gained more control over its supply chain by deploying a WMS rather than relying on 3PLs for its distribution, notes Eduardo Gon- zalez de Boada, supply chain director for the Lima-based company. The cloud-based WMS from Atlanta, Ga.-based LogFire improved inventory replenishment and customer service, helping the company expand to 30 more stores in Peru in the last three years. Improved inventory visibility has been helpful replenishing inventory both within stores and between stores and company- owned DCs, Gonzalez de Boada says. Deliveries to stores are now 97 to 99 percent accurate. Inventory visibility is especially important as the company's supply chain now covers larger distances; deliveries can take close to three days for some stores. The lat- est development with LogFire is a workforce management system which will increase the productivity in the DCs. LogFire is also working with Supermercados on a store management system that sits on the same platform as the WMS. Both systems could be implemented as stand-along solutions. The WMS will also support Supermercados future plans to introduce grocery e-commerce. Dietz and Watson, the Philadelphia, Pa.-based meat and cheese manufacturer/dis- tributor, realized back in 2006 that its home- grown WMS was not doing a good job man- aging serialized data, says Mike Wiese, system administrator and technical program man- ager. Different products had different code dates and customers had different delivery expectations. Dietz and Watson also wanted more control over its distribution. The company was using as many as seven 3PLs, each of which required Dietz and Watson to adhere to a separate set of data requirements. The company decided to centralize its distribution operations in one DC. To gain more control Supply Chain Analytics Moves Forward The Materials Handling Institute notes the following convergence of forces is helping to expand the possibilities for supply chain analytics: • Data proliferation. The amount of data available for analysis—especially supply chain data—is growing quickly. • Cheaper data storage. From 2000 to 2008, storing an MB of data became 100 times less expensive. • Faster processing power. Processing speed has increased 256 times since 2000. • Anywhere, anytime connectivity. Mobile data is now available almost everywhere. • Better tools. Innovative tools make sophisticated analysis simpler and more cost effective. • Advanced visualization. New tools and techniques help show patterns in huge volumes of data. For more information, visit odfl .com or call 1-800-432-6335. OD Global offers: • PersoPaNi\eF siPINe RoiPV oH coPVacV Hor sVaVWs oP aNN sJiRmePVs • Pacifi c Promise ™ serXice Hrom #siaP RorVs FirecV Vo VJe 75 • &irecV; serXice Vo or Hrom %aPaFa /eZico PWerVo 4ico #NasMa aPF *aYaii