GMA STUDY FINDS CPFR IS GAINING ADHERENTS

DAN ALAIMO

WASHINGTON -- After a long and bumpy takeoff, collaborative planning, forecasting and replenishment at last seems to be getting off the ground in the food retailing industry, according to a recent study by Grocery Manufacturers of America here.

The study found that 67% of GMA members are engaged in some form of CPFR and 19% are moving beyond pilots to implement CPFR with their trading partner retailers. Neither GMA nor any of the participating manufacturers would reveal the names of supermarket retailers involved in these rollouts.

"As CPFR becomes a more viable business practice for manufacturers, the benefits are also realized by the retailer," C. Manly Molpus, president and chief executive officer of GMA, told SN. "Across the supply chain, the industry's focus can be on proactively building business initiatives, not reacting to issues on the distribution and logistics level. "CPFR has been shown to reduce out-of-stocks, enhance service levels, improve forecast accuracy and a host of other advancements that all contribute to supply chain efficiency and improved trading partner relationships."

CPFR uses technology and a standard set of business practices for collaboration between business partners over the Internet. The CPFR Baseline survey, the first of its kind, was conducted at the end of 2001 with 42 GMA members participating. The study was sponsored by Syncra Systems, Waltham, Mass.

The study found that supermarkets still lag mass merchandisers in CPFR participation, as 71% of the GMA respondents said they partner with mass merchants, while 35% said they collaborate with supermarket retailers and 12% said they work with drug chains. (Multiple responses were allowed.)

Among the benefits of CPFR detailed in the survey, 67% reported an improvement in forecast accuracy and 56% said they saw a decrease in inventory. Forecast accuracy was the most anticipated benefit of CPFR, with 86% of the survey respondents citing it, while others looked forward to the benefits of increased sales and improved internal communications, each cited by 76% of the sample.

For the future, 51% of the respondents said they intend to move ahead with a CPFR initiative, while 49% said they have identifiable pilots under way and 19% said they have completed pilots. Twelve percent said that CPFR has become part of their way of doing business with specific trading partners.