TECHNOLOGY EDUCATION CENTER PLANNED

LAURA KLEPACKI

MINNEAPOLIS -- A new educational center for retailers that will focus on the use of information technology in the meat department could be open for enrollment by next year.

The new program, to be called the Meat Marketing and Technology Center, is being created by the National Live Stock and Meat Board with assistance from the University of Chicago.

The center is expected to offer classes for retailers on a variety of subjects, including application of computer programs to determine department costs and pricing structures, implementation of Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point programs, and dissemination of cookery, recipe and food safety information.

The center will feature a working showcase of new technologies that may include scanners, scales and other equipment. It will be located at the board's offices in Chicago, and some instruction may be offered at the University of Chicago's Business School.

A third element of the program will provide consultants to meet with retailers at their corporate headquarters or in stores to help design and implement meat marketing programs.

H. Ken Johnson, vice president of meat science for the Meat Board, announced the new center at the American Meat Institute-Food Marketing Institute Meat Marketing Conference held here recently.

"We as an industry need to be more consumer-driven and enhance our market share and provide profitability opportunities for everyone," said Johnson. "We feel the key to our industry is information, and therefore the thrust of this center is information."

The board plans to test elements of the program with three retail chains beginning in July, and have a complete curriculum with a fee schedule and facilities in place by the middle of next year.

Johnson believes the center could serve as a catalyst for change in the industry by bringing new technologies and information systems together.

Specifically, said Johnson, "we are talking about installing pricing systems, managing a database, introducing and sustaining case-ready and branded products, and determining product mixes. That is -- everything that is needed to tailor the meat case layout to a particular store or chain of stores."

The board, in a draft proposal for the center, said it hopes the implementation of new marketing and merchandising systems will help turn around the decline in meat sales that has occurred.

The board contended that retail meat departments have not been adapting their product mixes quickly enough to meet new customer preferences.