McDonald’s logistics partner Keystone Distribution UK has broken new ground in becoming the first to implement Paragon’s innovative ITIS-based road speed data for transport optimisation.

The addition of reliable road speed data to Paragon’s routing and scheduling software has enabled Keystone to improve the accuracy of its daily transport planning. This new feature of the Paragon system automatically calibrates routes and reduces time-consuming data set-up.

Keystone supplies the entire UK network of McDonald’s restaurants with all its products, from food to packaging and cleaning materials, making around 200,000 deliveries per year. The company uses Paragon to produce core schedules and daily plans, as well as for strategic planning of new routes. For Keystone, the incorporation of ITIS road speeds has improved results and removed the need to manually manage road adjustment regions within the plan.

Peter Holdsworth, head of scheduling at Keystone, said: “We were delighted when Paragon approached us to test its new ITIS road speed map functionality. This has removed discrepancies between plans and what was actually happening out on the road. The ITIS information is incredibly accurate, whether for long haul or city driving, and we have seen a huge improvement in our delivery performance by using it to automatically calibrate our plans. This, in turn, has improved our service levels and made our drivers happier, as we can now give them true timings for each leg of their journey. It has truly exceeded our expectations.”

Holdsworth highlights that by using ITIS data, plans will always be accurate as the information is regularly updated. This will allow Keystone to further develop the system to incorporate dynamic scheduling, with variable plans that allow for greater flexibility of the delivery fleet.

Keystone collates and processes orders from hundreds of outlets every day with the aim of delivering 100 per cent availability, with first-class quality assurance. The company distributes more than one million cases of frozen, chilled and ambient product each week throughout the UK, including the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands, from its three distribution centres in Hemel Hempstead, Heywood and Basingstoke.

RINGING CHANGES

Sainsbury’s has been awarded the Business Commitment to the Environment (BCE) - Environmental Leadership Award 2009, for becoming the first European retailer to roll out NCR RealPOS Two-Sided Thermal Receipt Printers, which print on both sides of the paper simultaneously.

NCR two-sided receipt printers can reduce receipt paper usage by up to 45 per cent and consume less power. With this technology, Sainsbury’s anticipates savings of 502,000 till rolls per annum - cutting its receipt paper usage by around two-fifths. To put this into perspective, the paper saved would wrap around the world three times.

Sainsbury’s has also introduced more energy-efficient NCR tills that can be serviced remotely and powered down automatically at the end of the day.

Dennis Fuller, Sainsbury’s head of store IT installations, said: “The BCE Environmental Leadership Award recognises the efforts that Sainsbury’s and NCR have put into improving the environmental performance of our tills. This includes NCR’s innovative receipt printers, which print on both sides of the paper simultaneously. This technology not only provides environmental benefits, but also provides our shoppers with shorter, more manageable receipts, faster print times and fewer stoppages for receipt roll changes.”

NCR has a long history of retail technology innovations, having pioneered the development of the cash register more than 125 years ago. In 1961, it introduced the world’s first thermal printer, which was faster, quieter and more reliable than the impact printers previously used, and most recently developed the two-sided printing technology.

The achievement in winning the BCE - Environmental Leadership Award 2009 follows Sainsbury’s and NCR’s success in winning the European Retail Solutions Best Green IT Initiative Award 2008.

FRESH PRODUCE COMPANIES NOT ALONE IN THEIR IT CONCERNS

This month, Anglia Business Solutions outlines the key challenges and issues that arose at a recent breakfast meeting in London, aimed at getting to grips with the use of IT in the wider food market.

It is easy to think that the issues facing fresh produce companies in their use of IT are specific to that industry.

In a breakfast meeting held in London on June 25, it became clear that the problem of maximising the use of information technology as a business aid is widespread across the food and drink sector in general.

During the discussions, delegates vented their frustrations by highlighting many of the challenges that they faced. They covered the following areas:

Islands of data

Many delegates highlighted the fact that diverse information silos existed within their organisations. These were caused by shortcomings in the functionality of their legacy systems. Some pointed to the fact that their core applications no longer met the needs of the business. To overcome the shortfall in the required functionality, people had resorted to the creation of supporting systems. In many cases, these consisted of complex spreadsheets containing vital planning and financial information.

The resulting islands of data created multiple issues that hindered the senior management in their quest for efficiencies. The most commonly quoted included the inability to access accurate and reliable costing information on contracts and product lines. This made it difficult to refine their business models to maximise returns in an environment where margins are now under constant pressure.

A further issue with this approach is the reliance on the head knowledge of individuals. In one case, a delegate expressed reluctance to introduce changes for fear of losing the co-operation of such people. There was general acceptance that islands of data were inhibitors in the ability of companies to compete in the current hostile economic environment.

Systems and people

One of the issues flagged up during the debate was the difficulty in attracting good people to work within the industry. The traditional image of the food production environment was that of long hours in difficult working conditions for limited financial rewards.

This made the task of implementing sophisticated integrated systems that transformed the business more challenging. The dearth of top-quality personnel resources meant that, once identified, such people became difficult to backfill to enable them to focus on business solutions deployments.

However, the delegates acknowledged that, even with average systems, high-quality people could maximise their value if allowed the time to focus. The lesson was that good people could make average systems work, while less talented people could struggle with state-of-the-art solutions.

Customer forecasting

There was general agreement that the major retailers had a poor track record when it came to product forecasting. This meant that the suppliers had to second guess what the likely order would contain when it was eventually transmitted. They therefore had to plan accordingly.

This created difficulties, particularly in the case of fresh food with a limited shelf life. Inherently, this led to more waste in the supply chain as suppliers were forced to overstock and retailers to dump out-of-date, unsold product. There was a general consensus that if it were possible for the retailers to pass the responsibility for shelf management of fresh food onto the suppliers, they would embrace this business model.

Niche markets

While most of the UK’s food is now supplied through supermarkets, there were substantial opportunities for niche products outside this channel. While these were hard to find, the effort was worthwhile as the margins were better than those yielded by the supermarkets.

Market consolidation

This trend continues throughout the food production and supply business. A financial specialist working in that sector saw an increase in merger and acquisition activities in recent months. This represented an opportunity to acquire market share for reasonable outlays. However, the usual warning of caveat emptor applies.

Enterprise resource planning

The value of having a centralised data repository was stressed. The objective was to have a single version of the truth on which to rely. The advantages included tighter control of costs, improved customer service, reduced waste and improved profitability. They also included the ability to introduce standard operating practices across disparate locations. Various examples were discussed where such systems provided a significant competitive advantage in today’s cut-throat market conditions.

In summary, this was a unique and very useful forum where delegates were free to express their concerns on what was happening within the broader food market. It showed that all sectors were living with margin pressures, coupled with increasing demands on quality and traceability compliance.

Subsequent feedback indicated that the debate enabled people with common issues to explore alternative solutions to meeting their business objectives. The general consensus was that the event was a beneficial use of their time. Further details of the attendees and a report on the breakfast meeting can be downloaded from http://www.angliabs.com/news_Briefing0709.aspx

MAKRO MAKES VIDEO CALL

Makro, the cash and carry for independent businesses, has announced that it has integrated a new, high-quality video conferencing system at its head office in Eccles, as the company strives to increase its focus on its sustainability policy.

The new video conferencing system, from industry expert Telepresence Tandberg, will be implemented throughout Metro Cash & Carry International, the world leader in cash and carry wholesale and owner of Makro, and aims to significantly reduce Makro’s carbon footprint, streamline communications, increase productivity and minimise travel costs.

Makro recently unveiled its multi-million pound customer investment programme, which includes store revamps; installation of new, specialist equipment in store; the creation of a new offer management department and a customer management department, including expansion of its customer consultants team; and more investment into targeting specific customer groups.

Hannes Floto, managing director of Makro, said: “The new high-tech system will help us ensure we communicate effectively to our colleagues within the Metro Group during this exciting period of change, as well as help the company to build closer relationships with its external suppliers and business partners, many of whom are based outside the UK.

“The implementation of this video conferencing system across our business operation is the first step toward achieving our sustainability policy.”

OUTSOURCING REVOLUTION

Solution Provider Outsourcery has launched a nationwide campaign to raise awareness about the revolution that is taking place in the way start-ups and small- to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) interact with and pay for technology.

Outsourcery offers software solutions from firms such as Microsoft to SMEs on a per user, per month basis with no need for hardware of maintenance contracts. Outsourcery’s software and services model offers maximum flexibility and cost control, from as little as £6 per month.

Outsourcery has an annual turnover of more than £60 million and more than 250 employees.