EDI has proved quite helpful in the grocery business by ensuring that all your business systems (and those of your vendors and logistics partners) are speaking the same language. This is possible through a standard data format, electronic data interchange, which provides a technical basis for automated order processing and inventory management.
The fresh produce usually has a short shelf life. Therefore, it is important that you know when your products arrive and how soon they can be restocked. SPS helps to automate and standardize all the supply chain documents, such as EDI and ASN, between grocers and their vendor community. This ultimately gives them the power to know exactly where their products are always.
SPS can also help process purchase orders in days rather than weeks. This means that the items can get to the shelf faster, eventually reducing the fear of any product running out of stock.
The ASN is an electronic document that provides visibility to the entire process of shipment. Details like the exact time the order had been shipped and what kind of products are contained in the shipment, are included in ASN. Supermarkets can use this information to better manage inventory, margins and supplier score carding. By utilizing the ASN, grocers are equipped to meet the FDA regulatory data requirement for product traceability Food Safety Modernizations Act and Drug Supply Chain Security Act.