ECR journey offers industry many lessons

In order for an entire industry to achieve its objectives, there must be:

•  a common focused vision with a defined endpoint;

• a sense of urgency to complete the task;

• transparency from the companies involved in the initiatives;

• involvement and commitment of key industry players;

• recognition of closure when it is achieved;

• recognition of what can and cannot be achieved through industry initiatives.

Top-to-Top Forum created to provide industry leadership

A new Top-to-Top Forum is being developed by CCGD, FCPMC, CFIG and CFBA to offer stronger, broader leadership to address all non-proprietary industry issues. These include: ongoing ECR issues such as the unsaleables recommendation and supply chain initiatives; collective advocacy opportunities; joint spokesperson roles; and early warning system for members on emerging issues.

The Forum will follow the successful model of the ECR Steering Committee, in terms of its membership and structure.

Supply Chain Seminar

Is this closure?  Yes!

The question that was asked at a recent breakfast seminar “ECR: Is This Closure?” was one that symbolized ECR discussions throughout 1999.  The answer, according to Co-chairs David Jeffs, Loblaw Companies Limited and Irene Rosenfeld, Kraft Canada Inc., is yes. 

Leading into Phase II of ECR, the industry recognized that there was a need to focus on results and accomplishments in a few well-defined areas.  In 1999, the initiative focused on EDI, casecodes, unsaleables and later deductions.  As a result, committee work plans were narrowed accordingly, and activities and initiatives were tested against the vision of closure.  “In short, it allowed us to fight off the demon of bureaucracy,” said Jeffs.

Having reached closure on Phase II, the Co-chairs emphasized that trading partners must continue to embrace the ECR goals and work toward implementation of best practices.  The industry must also judge whether tasks are completed or whether they are unachievable. “If we provide this ‘litmus test’ against all industry initiatives, it will ensure that we will have the ingredients for a successful and prosperous Canadian grocery industry,” said Rosenfeld.

Unsaleables recommendation reaches critical mass

A year ago the unsaleables recommendation was only piloting in Ontario and the industry did not have the systems in place to manage the program.  Today, the recommendation has achieved critical mass implementa-tion across the country, with the exception of Quebec, and has implemented fact-based management systems.

The Committee will complete a ‘root cause’ analysis and a review to expand the protocol to include frozen and refrigerated products by Spring 2000.  The review of frozen products will be tackled first and completed by the end of first quarter 2000.  Refriger-ated products will be examined later in the year.

For more information on unsaleables activities, refer to the October issue of the Unsaleables Update. v

Bringing clarity to deductions

Although deductions was not initially identified as a 1999 priority, it became apparent there was lack of closure concerning the ECR best practices that had been published.

The Deductions Committee was charged with addressing this confusion.  Bill McEwan, The Great Atlantic & Pacific Company of Canada Limited and Steve Smith, Kraft Canada Inc., accepted this task.  Their committee had a very focused agenda that was divided into two categories:

• ‘must do’ activities centered on bringing clarity to the deductions process;

• ‘need to do’ activities focused on clarifying implementation of deductions best practices.

The Committee recommendation to improve clarity in deductions specifies: no deductions should be processed without a contract number, including activity, amount, timing and authorization for deduction.  This recommendation will be implemented by all major distributors by the first half of 2000.

The Committee surveyed distributors to determine their implementation plans for post audit and price change best practices.  In most cases, all distributors have adopted these best practices.  However, these activities remain the responsibility of individual trading partners.

Building the foundation for product ID and EDI

Unlike the other Committees’ activities, the Supply Chain Committee initiatives are longer term in nature.  Although the Committee’s specific goals have been achieved, critical mass implementation has not yet been realized.

Led by Co-chairs, Phil Lanzarotta, Lanzarotta Wholesale Grocers Ltd. and Larry Gillman, The Quaker Oats Company of Canada Limited, the Committee established application of casecodes and migration to the EDI standard VICS 4010 for purchase orders and invoices as its objectives for 1999.

In order to realize the full industry cost savings, these recommendations must achieve 100% implementa-tion and both enablers are only building blocks to a much greater objective.  Therefore, it is important that the industry remain committed to implementing product ID and EDI strategies in their businesses.

The Committee’s activities will continue to be closely aligned with the Electronic Commerce Council of Canada. The details that have been developed by the Committee are captured in the document “ECR Guidelines for Electronic Data Interchange, Product Identification and Barcodes.” This document was approved by the Steering Committee and is currently being distributed to  members of all sponsoring associations.

The Committee’s agenda for the next 12 months will focus on: U.P.C. change recommendations; pallet licence plates; returnable container coding; imple-mentation of EDI data synchronization transaction set (832); and implementation of ECCnet.

For more information on supply chain activities, refer to the November issue of the Supply Chain Update.v

This is the last issue of the ECR Bulletin.
Look for a new top-to-top newsletter to be published in the new year.

For information about ECR initiatives…contact a representative of one of the sponsoring associations:

For general information and a list of our publications, check out our web site at http://www.ecr.ca