FLEMING COS. TO SUPPLY 30 ACME UNITS FOR ALBRECHT

LINDA PURPURA

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Fred W. Albrecht Grocery Co., Akron, Ohio, last week began a long-term supply agreement with Fleming Cos. here, to supply its 30 Acme and Acme Express stores with dairy, frozen and other products.

The pact offers the retailer a number of buying and logistical advantages, according to Steve Albrecht, president of Fred W. Albrecht. The company had been self-distributing for 20 years.

"Fleming's efficiency is our efficiency," said Albrecht. "Because of their focus on distribution technologies, our service level and fill rates are going to be much higher." Fleming's use of technology includes radio frequency systems in its warehouses, which help provide inventory management and labor tracking capabilities, says Richard Reynolds, senior industrial engineer at Fleming.

"We do have a good warehouse operation," said Albrecht. "We have great people that have done a fine job for us and we'll be keeping certain portions of our operation." He declined to comment on which portions of its operations the company will keep.

Fleming's core business is receiving, holding and shipping products very efficiently, he said. "We're talking about a company that does billions of dollars of business and implicitly has tremendous buying power, high service levels and high fill rates."

The dairy, frozen and other products supplied to the Acme and Acme Express stores come from the Fleming's supply center in Massillon, Ohio. Acme plans to continue reduced operations of its 250,000-square-foot distribution center in Akron.