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Syncing Up

If a supplier is lax about accurately measuring the weight and dimensions of its products, it's probably not going to make many friends at Wegmans Food Markets. That's because the Rochester, N.Y.-based chain, as much as any U.S. food retailer, takes the data accuracy of products very seriously. It's not the grossly inaccurate measurements such as a 53-pound candy bar that once appeared in its data

Michael Garry

June 28, 2010

7 Min Read
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MICHAEL GARRY

If a supplier is lax about accurately measuring the weight and dimensions of its products, it's probably not going to make many friends at Wegmans Food Markets. That's because the Rochester, N.Y.-based chain, as much as any U.S. food retailer, takes the data accuracy of products very seriously.

It's not the grossly inaccurate measurements — such as a 53-pound candy bar that once appeared in its data catalog — that bothers Wegmans, because those mistakes are easily noticed and fixed, and are happening less often. It's the slow accumulation of small, under-the-radar inaccuracies that can throw off its business, said Kristin Andersen, business-to-business manager for Wegmans, during a session earlier this month in San Antonio at U Connect 2010, sponsored by GS1 US and VICS.

Inaccurate data impacts everything from procurement, warehousing and transportation to shelf planning, invoicing and the company website, Andersen said. “An inch here, an inch there; a pound here, a pound there — it adds up to less than fully used trucks or overweight trucks or less than fully used planograms.”

Wegmans has been one of the industry's most outspoken advocates of product data accuracy and synchronization for many years at many conferences, pushing its manufacturer trading partners as well as other retailers toward the adoption of standards and best practices. Andersen used the U Connect 2010 platform to once again remind suppliers what its expectations are.

By advocating for better data accuracy, Wegmans has indeed boosted its internal audit of suppliers' product accuracy from 30% in 2006 to 88% this year. “I'm excited that the tide is turning,” said Andersen.

To keep the momentum going, Wegmans has developed a new metric for the scorecard used to measure suppliers and itself: master data completeness, a measure of the completeness of the data associated with an item. In assessing the completeness of the data in its master data catalog, Wegmans identified 35,000 items lacking necessary supply chain attributes such as dimensions and weights as well as optional attributes such as pallet Ti-Hi (the stacking configuration of cases on a pallet).

All but 8,000 items have been updated as the “clean-up” process continues, with input from suppliers, said Kathy Welch, data sync/data accuracy coordinator for Wegmans, who spoke with Andersen at U Connect 2010.

The products with the biggest data gaps are those not being synchronized via the Global Data Synchronization Network (GDSN), said Welch. “GDSN is the most efficient way to provide complete and accurate data, along with understanding your retailer's needs for additional non-mandatory data.” Welch noted that it took some time for Wegmans to “get our syncing suppliers to start adding the non-mandatory attributes,” but most are including all required attributes in their synchronization transmissions now.

Another recent step taken by Wegmans has been to revamp its new item fact sheet — a supplement to the GDSN — so that it includes all required supply chain attributes. Wegmans is also trying to close the gap between the information supplied by a manufacturer's corporate headquarters and its sales reps.

On an ongoing basis, Wegmans asks its suppliers to conduct regular physical audits of its products to ensure that data accuracy is maintained, said Welch. The chain will accept preliminary “spec” data when a new item is first synchronized, “but then we'll need you to take a measure of finished goods and continue to synchronize updates throughout your product's lifecycle,” she said. Physical audits can be done internally or by third-party auditors.

Wegmans uses scorecards to help suppliers “stay the course” with accuracy and synchronization. Suppliers should also take the GS1 data quality self-assessment test to find out “where your challenges may be,” said Andersen.

Andersen also advised suppliers at the conference to maintain “one version of the truth” — a single database rather than disparate databases in different departments that don't communicate with each other.

PUBLIC REPORT CARDS

Wegmans is well known for its supplier report cards — publicly displayed at industry conferences — showing specific companies' monthly level of data synchronization and accuracy. At U Connect 2010, Andersen presented bar graphs reporting results for a group of “strategic suppliers.” The average sync and accuracy rates for May 2010 were 88% and 90%, respectively. “We realized that we wouldn't get improvements in synchronization and accuracy if we didn't scorecard,” said Andersen. The public showing of the numbers prompts a lot of activity on the part of suppliers trying to improve their scores, she added.

In further support of its suppliers, Wegmans sends them a report on the dimensions and weights of cases, inner packs and items that compares their data with audit data collected by Wegmans. “It's a summary of what they are having trouble with,” said Welch.

It's very important to Wegmans that the GTIN (Global Trade Item Number, which is encoded in the bar code) is accurate and synchronized before a manufacturer representative makes a sales call. “We don't want an item presented until the GTIN is published,” said Andersen. But sales reps often don't know a GTIN's status, prompting Wegmans to ask its data pool, 1SYNC, to develop a tool that would give salespeople access to this information. The result is a new online application, the Sync Status Report (available at www.1sync.org), that allows sales reps to type in a GTIN to determine its status at Wegmans.

On the 1SYNC website, Wegmans provides an overall guide on how suppliers can synchronize data for new and existing items with the chain.

While Wegmans has high standards for its suppliers when it comes to data accuracy and synchronization, the retailer believes that suppliers also benefit from these standards. “Accuracy in a shared supply chain has value for manufacturers, too,” said Welch. Suppliers should endeavor to “understand GDSN and the value of the data.”

Andersen suggested it was the responsibility of the supplier representatives attending U Connect 2010 to share the rules and standards on package measurement and GTIN allocation to their R&D, package engineering, data sync and sales departments within their companies. “The hardest part of your job is spreading that message,” she said.

WAKEFERN'S PORTAL

Wakefern Food Corp., Keasbey, N.J., also used U Connect 210 as a platform to announce its latest data accuracy and synchronization initiatives and to urge suppliers to get onboard.

Wakefern, which supplies member-owned ShopRite and PriceRite stores, has been syncing data through the GDSN since 2006. The wholesaler created a department “that has the expertise to manage item data for all areas of the organization,” explained Michael Durning, its manager of data integrity at a U Connect 2010 session.

Last November, the cooperative wholesaler added a new item portal as a supplement to GDSN to eliminate paper forms and minimize the manual transfer of information. The portal brings up basic attributes for new items published to Wakefern via the GDSN; it also allows suppliers to communicate non-standardized information such as nutritional content, ad images, religious and ethnic data, or “a pallet for a particular promotion,” said Durning. This month, the portal begins supporting assortments of items, dynamic and fixed. More than 600 vendors use the portal.

Wakefern supports 86 GDSN product attributes in its product database, including basic product data like dimensions, weight and items per case, up from 25 attributes in 2008, said Durning. (More than 1,000 standard attributes are available in the GDSN.) But he is anticipating needing many more attributes.

For example, consumers' growing interest in dietary and health information will significantly expand the number of product data attributes that suppliers will need to provide retailers and wholesalers via the data synchronization process.

“Not too far into the future, a consumer will come into a ShopRite store with certain dietary needs and allergy concerns and be able to go to a kiosk [to address them],” he said. “That information has to come from our suppliers, so as time goes by we will be asking for more information of this type. Understanding the information consumers are looking for will be critical to our success.”

Underpinning Wakefern's data sync effort is a passion for accurate data. Like Wegmans, Wakefern became a data accuracy evangelist after conducting an initial audit that uncovered substantial case dimension and weight error rates in grocery, general merchandise and perishables categories (47%, 78% and 84%, respectively), said Durning. The faulty data adversely impacted Wakefern in such areas as store inventory and replenishment, shelf merchandising, scanning accuracy, shelf label accuracy, warehousing and transportation, he said.

Durning reminded vendors of their role in maintaining data quality, encouraging them to “make sure their data is 100% accurate. We don't want bad data.” He pointed out that GS1 US offers vendors several programs to help with data accuracy, including the data quality framework, dimensioning services, new item data quality certification, package measurement rules and GTIN allocation rules.

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