PMA rolls out data standardization product
PMA rolls out data standardization product
MONTEREY, CA In an effort to move the produce industry forward through technology, the Produce Marketing Association announced the launch of ASAP: Produce at its RFID Fresh Produce Academy & Expo held here June 2.
ASAP: Produce is a web-based application that has 13 different produce attributes such as commodity, variety group, variety, refinement and grade, whereby produce suppliers and retailers can access standard attributes and their values for their proprietary applications. ASAP, which stands for A Standardized Attributes Product, is being adopted by major supply chain management software and service providers. Users of ASAP will be able to speak the same data language for grading and describing produce and cross-referencing a buyer number to a seller number.
Fresh produce lacks unique product identification. Non-produce packages have a UPC code that ties an item to a UPC number. Fresh produce, on the other hand, carries a PLU number an identifying number that doesn't tie to the grower and doesnt identify the variety of the commodity.
"Theres no bar code on Red Delicious apples," said Bryan Silbermann, president of the Produce Marketing Association, adding that the identifying information is on the PLU codes that cashiers can type in. With a unique ID by a shipper, the buyer doesnt have the specificity needed.
Mr. Silbermann said that looking out five years from today, the monetary value of the ASAP system to the industry would be hundreds of millions of dollars in terms of savings and enhanced efficiencies.
Both Mr. Silbermann and Gary Fleming, PMAs vice president of industry technology and standards, said that industry initiatives are moving toward a synchronicity and symbiosis between radio frequency identification, traceability, e-commerce and data synchronization. In response, last August PMA decided that industry technology standards were paramount, and the association has since doubled its technology staff to four people from two and doubled the technology budget to more than $500,000, Mr. Silbermann said.
Mr. Fleming said that there are bad data in the system which can include any bar codes and e-commerce that must be addressed. If we dont fix the data, we defeat the automation process, Mr. Fleming said. Shipments, invoices, inventory it affects every area.
Mr. Fleming said that e-commerce, bar codes and RFID all would pull from the same data. As such, the gap will get exponentially bigger between companies keeping pace with technology and those that are not, he said.
According to Mr. Fleming, standardized information is key for members of the produce and floral industries to accurately, efficiently and in an automated fashion match up a buyers SKU number with a sellers item number. Adoption of ASAP is the needed standardization that enables trading partners to begin synchronizing their data and avoid using bad data that can result in mis-shipments, invoice deductions, strained customer relations and misalignment of data, he said.
As a standard attributes database, ASAP: Produce facilitates the marketing, selling and purchasing of produce at the case and pallet levels. These attributes are the precursor to database synchronization that will lead to the implementation of RFID and adherence to traceability guidelines. PMA anticipates releasing ASAP: Floral later this summer to provide similar benefits for the floral industry.
The produce supply chain must trace product, investigate and incorporate RFID technology, use the Global Data Synchronization Network, apply category management concepts, and efficiently cross-reference proprietary inventory numbers. To do this, data synchronization must be used and adapted to proprietary systems. ASAP is the first step in this process.
Food Link Online and iTrade Network leading retailers and suppliers are the first to subscribe to PMAs data standardization effort and each played a role in the creation of the ASAP network.
Joe Buchanan, vice president of sales and marketing for Food Link Online, said that Food Link built the prototype for PMAs ASAP: Produce. The system can eliminate code-matching problems between the buyers and sellers, he said, adding that ASAP: Produce offers the tools to do efficient cleansing of an internal catalog.
Food Link has a catalog available on-line that is PMA-compliant; Food Link can host and maintain catalogs for customers, Mr. Buchanan said.
In a PMA press release, Bruce Peterson, senior vice president and general merchandise manager of perishables for Wal-Mart Stores Inc., praised ASAP: Produce and said that data synchronization has been identified as the critical bridge to allowing both traceability and RFID to cross into the industry mainstream.
In that same PMA press release, Gary Gionette, vice president of produce/floral for Supervalu Inc., said, As a partner with PMA in developing this product, Supervalu testing results showed a 50 percent reduction in our purchase ordering process costs.
Mr. Silbermann said that PMA would offer this first version of ASAP: Produce to customers for a $500 annual fee. There is a $50 renewal fee for access to updates after the first year.
The on-line subscription service launched the week of June 13. Customers can view it on-line or download it to a server, Mr. Silbermann said, adding that ASAP is data you integrate into your system.
ASAP: Produce is a web-based application that has 13 different produce attributes such as commodity, variety group, variety, refinement and grade, whereby produce suppliers and retailers can access standard attributes and their values for their proprietary applications. ASAP, which stands for A Standardized Attributes Product, is being adopted by major supply chain management software and service providers. Users of ASAP will be able to speak the same data language for grading and describing produce and cross-referencing a buyer number to a seller number.
Fresh produce lacks unique product identification. Non-produce packages have a UPC code that ties an item to a UPC number. Fresh produce, on the other hand, carries a PLU number an identifying number that doesn't tie to the grower and doesnt identify the variety of the commodity.
"Theres no bar code on Red Delicious apples," said Bryan Silbermann, president of the Produce Marketing Association, adding that the identifying information is on the PLU codes that cashiers can type in. With a unique ID by a shipper, the buyer doesnt have the specificity needed.
Mr. Silbermann said that looking out five years from today, the monetary value of the ASAP system to the industry would be hundreds of millions of dollars in terms of savings and enhanced efficiencies.
Both Mr. Silbermann and Gary Fleming, PMAs vice president of industry technology and standards, said that industry initiatives are moving toward a synchronicity and symbiosis between radio frequency identification, traceability, e-commerce and data synchronization. In response, last August PMA decided that industry technology standards were paramount, and the association has since doubled its technology staff to four people from two and doubled the technology budget to more than $500,000, Mr. Silbermann said.
Mr. Fleming said that there are bad data in the system which can include any bar codes and e-commerce that must be addressed. If we dont fix the data, we defeat the automation process, Mr. Fleming said. Shipments, invoices, inventory it affects every area.
Mr. Fleming said that e-commerce, bar codes and RFID all would pull from the same data. As such, the gap will get exponentially bigger between companies keeping pace with technology and those that are not, he said.
According to Mr. Fleming, standardized information is key for members of the produce and floral industries to accurately, efficiently and in an automated fashion match up a buyers SKU number with a sellers item number. Adoption of ASAP is the needed standardization that enables trading partners to begin synchronizing their data and avoid using bad data that can result in mis-shipments, invoice deductions, strained customer relations and misalignment of data, he said.
As a standard attributes database, ASAP: Produce facilitates the marketing, selling and purchasing of produce at the case and pallet levels. These attributes are the precursor to database synchronization that will lead to the implementation of RFID and adherence to traceability guidelines. PMA anticipates releasing ASAP: Floral later this summer to provide similar benefits for the floral industry.
The produce supply chain must trace product, investigate and incorporate RFID technology, use the Global Data Synchronization Network, apply category management concepts, and efficiently cross-reference proprietary inventory numbers. To do this, data synchronization must be used and adapted to proprietary systems. ASAP is the first step in this process.
Food Link Online and iTrade Network leading retailers and suppliers are the first to subscribe to PMAs data standardization effort and each played a role in the creation of the ASAP network.
Joe Buchanan, vice president of sales and marketing for Food Link Online, said that Food Link built the prototype for PMAs ASAP: Produce. The system can eliminate code-matching problems between the buyers and sellers, he said, adding that ASAP: Produce offers the tools to do efficient cleansing of an internal catalog.
Food Link has a catalog available on-line that is PMA-compliant; Food Link can host and maintain catalogs for customers, Mr. Buchanan said.
In a PMA press release, Bruce Peterson, senior vice president and general merchandise manager of perishables for Wal-Mart Stores Inc., praised ASAP: Produce and said that data synchronization has been identified as the critical bridge to allowing both traceability and RFID to cross into the industry mainstream.
In that same PMA press release, Gary Gionette, vice president of produce/floral for Supervalu Inc., said, As a partner with PMA in developing this product, Supervalu testing results showed a 50 percent reduction in our purchase ordering process costs.
Mr. Silbermann said that PMA would offer this first version of ASAP: Produce to customers for a $500 annual fee. There is a $50 renewal fee for access to updates after the first year.
The on-line subscription service launched the week of June 13. Customers can view it on-line or download it to a server, Mr. Silbermann said, adding that ASAP is data you integrate into your system.
