Specialty food importer using new tool from Blinco Systems to gain visibility, improve inventory turns
Toronto — June 21, 2005 — Specialty food importer Liberty Richter has gone live with a dashboard solution from Blinco Systems and is using the new tool to help reduce on-hand inventory in the year ahead.
Saddle Brook, N.J.-based Liberty is part of the $2 billion Tree of Life group of companies. The company is one of the top three marketers of natural, specialty and premium gourmet foods in North America.
Liberty went live with the new dashboards, part of Blinco's business performance management (BPM) tools, a few months ago. Since 2002, Liberty has reduced its on hand inventory 25 percent using Blinco's 3rdwave global commerce management suite, and the company plans to save another 10 percent to 15 percent in the next 12 months, including by leveraging the new dashboards.
"As a food importer, in our industry, four inventory turns a year is considered good," said John McLennan, Liberty Richter's vice president for finance and controller. "With the visibility we have, we plan to improve our annual inventory turns from 4.75 times per year to six times per year within the next 12 months. Our goal is to get from eight to 10 turns per year. This is possible based on what we've experienced until now by using 3rdwave's dashboard."
The new dashboards are a feature made available to 3rdwave users in global commerce management, global sourcing, global trade, logistics and distribution environments, whether for international asset, non-asset-based manufacturing or private label programs.
McLennan said that 3rdwave's BPM tools and dashboard give the company "100 percent confidence" in its key performance indicators and have allowed Liberty to improve and streamline communications between finance and operations.
"Our management and operating groups can make more proactive decisions, control costs better and detect trends more quickly for better results because all our information is accurate and in real-time," he said. "We don't have to debate the validity of time-dated numbers. And we can collaborate better with our brand owners and plan future marketing and sales strategies."
David Blinick, Blinco Systems' president and CEO, said: "3rdwave's dashboard gives Liberty C-level visibility into finance and operations. Soon managers and operators will have configurable financial, operating, logistics, purchasing and inventory-related dashboards and have a 360-degree view of their world, when, where and how they need it."
3rdwave vertical solutions include consumer goods (hard goods and soft goods), food distribution, automotive, pharmaceutical, retail, fashion, metals trading, break bulk and logistics. Blinco Systems is headquartered in Toronto.
Additional Articles of Interest
— The focus in the retail sector has shifted from managing the movement of goods to managing information about goods. Read more in "Ramping Up the Retail Supply Chain," in the February/March 2005 issue of Supply & Demand Chain Executive.
— Do you only dream of having a supply chain as efficient as Dell's? Then it's time to wake up and manage your inventory liability. To find out how, read the SDCExec.com article "Managing Inventory Liability in an Outsourced Relationship."
Toronto — June 21, 2005 — Specialty food importer Liberty Richter has gone live with a dashboard solution from Blinco Systems and is using the new tool to help reduce on-hand inventory in the year ahead.
Saddle Brook, N.J.-based Liberty is part of the $2 billion Tree of Life group of companies. The company is one of the top three marketers of natural, specialty and premium gourmet foods in North America.
Liberty went live with the new dashboards, part of Blinco's business performance management (BPM) tools, a few months ago. Since 2002, Liberty has reduced its on hand inventory 25 percent using Blinco's 3rdwave global commerce management suite, and the company plans to save another 10 percent to 15 percent in the next 12 months, including by leveraging the new dashboards.
"As a food importer, in our industry, four inventory turns a year is considered good," said John McLennan, Liberty Richter's vice president for finance and controller. "With the visibility we have, we plan to improve our annual inventory turns from 4.75 times per year to six times per year within the next 12 months. Our goal is to get from eight to 10 turns per year. This is possible based on what we've experienced until now by using 3rdwave's dashboard."
The new dashboards are a feature made available to 3rdwave users in global commerce management, global sourcing, global trade, logistics and distribution environments, whether for international asset, non-asset-based manufacturing or private label programs.
McLennan said that 3rdwave's BPM tools and dashboard give the company "100 percent confidence" in its key performance indicators and have allowed Liberty to improve and streamline communications between finance and operations.
"Our management and operating groups can make more proactive decisions, control costs better and detect trends more quickly for better results because all our information is accurate and in real-time," he said. "We don't have to debate the validity of time-dated numbers. And we can collaborate better with our brand owners and plan future marketing and sales strategies."
David Blinick, Blinco Systems' president and CEO, said: "3rdwave's dashboard gives Liberty C-level visibility into finance and operations. Soon managers and operators will have configurable financial, operating, logistics, purchasing and inventory-related dashboards and have a 360-degree view of their world, when, where and how they need it."
3rdwave vertical solutions include consumer goods (hard goods and soft goods), food distribution, automotive, pharmaceutical, retail, fashion, metals trading, break bulk and logistics. Blinco Systems is headquartered in Toronto.
Additional Articles of Interest
— The focus in the retail sector has shifted from managing the movement of goods to managing information about goods. Read more in "Ramping Up the Retail Supply Chain," in the February/March 2005 issue of Supply & Demand Chain Executive.
— Do you only dream of having a supply chain as efficient as Dell's? Then it's time to wake up and manage your inventory liability. To find out how, read the SDCExec.com article "Managing Inventory Liability in an Outsourced Relationship."
- More articles about Blinco.
