IT'S BACK

David Merrefield

We've just passed through a period when there was some dimming of the spotlight shining on the Efficient Consumer Response program.

That happened, I guess, because a taxing plethora of general information about ECR developed in recent months as a few too many speeches and programs aimed at defining the project were offered at a time when the industry was really seeking to discover how to get started.

That continues to be the case: What the industry really needs now is more information on the reality of what it takes to get a project under way. More, there is a need for specific information on which aspects of ECR work and which don't. Luckily, much information of that sort is being developed in connection with numerous pilot projects now under way. It's understandable that it's taking a little time to move from pilot-project execution to the issuance of data. After all, not only does the pilot itself have to be analyzed and results obtained, but results have to be examined and authorized by one or more of the ECR committees before they can be publicly aired. Moving project results through an ECR committee may take some doing in itself. As is shown on Page 72 of this issue, the organization that has grown up around ECR is increasingly complex: There is an overall Joint Industry Executive Committee on ECR headed by Jerry Metcalf, of Scrivner, and Dick Mayer, of Kraft General Foods, to whom four operating committees and one task force on wholesaler and independents report. By the way, it's called "joint industry" because there are 11 trade associations involved in the process.

Most of the committees have their own lineup of subcommittees, each usually headed by both a representative of the food-distribution side of the business and the manufacturer side.

The committee process can involve quite a few people: Look at the ECR Best Practices Operating Committee headed by Donald Dufek, of Kroger Co., and Ralph Drayer, of Procter & Gamble. The committee has nine subcommittees, each of which has several direct members -- in one instance alone 11 members -- and several more crossover members from other operating committees. More than a few consultants are attached to the committee process as well.

So, as is the case with any enterprise that attracts a great number of participants, speed doesn't turn out to be its hallmark. But there is good news. At the meeting of the Food Marketing Institute's Midwinter Executive Conference under way this week, the first flight of how-to-do-it data is to be issued. It was at the same meeting a year earlier that the ECR concept got its first large-scale publicity.

It's expected that during this week's meeting in Boca Raton, Fla., detailed information on such specifics as continuous replenishment, category management, direct store delivery, cross docking, scanner data and more will be made known. Some of these topics are also addressed in an Expanded Special Report starting on Page 16 of this issue. As 1994 unfolds, it's expected that numerous other reports on how various segments of ECR might be put to work will be issued in various venues controlled by different trade associations.

The prospect of more rollout of real information on ECR execution is an exciting one and promises to spice up the year quite a bit.

As Jerry Metcalf said in an interview with SN -- an article based on the interview begins on Page 1 -- much progress has been made in ECR's first year and everyone will be pleased with the new information that will come out starting this week.