January 12, 2004

Predicting Perishables - Fresh-item management systems are helping retailers to cut perishables waste by forecasting demand and managing production
By Liz Parks

Just-In-Time Production
On the product production side of the ledger, Pittsburgh-based Giant Eagle and St. Louis-based Dierbergs Markets are using an application called EatecNetX, from Eatec, Emeryville, Calif.

According to Leslie Pullen, marketing manager for Eatec, Giant Eagle employs the system to manage the bakery and deli operations at 102 of its supermarkets; Dierbergs uses it to manage the deli and bakery operations in 22 stores.

Dierbergs runs the application, which interfaces to Dierbergs' point-of-sale and general ledger systems, in its centralized commissary and in its centralized bakery. From those locations, it ships the final products into each of its stores. All purchasing, receiving, inventory tracking, production management and loss management are done in the centralized locations, not in the stores.

The process, said Pullen, has helped Dierbergs track inventory costs, save staff time in production planning, minimize production waste, and allocate the appropriate product mix to ensure its stores don't run out of popular items or overproduce slower-turning items.

Giant Eagle uses EatecNetX to facilitate just-in-time production at store level, minimizing overstocking and reducing shrink. A production scale interface lets Giant Eagle employees know exactly how many items are produced within their departments.

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