Lawrenceville, NJ October 21, 2002 Cereal giant Kellogg has successfully loaded nearly 80 percent of its breakfast food volume into the UCCnet GLOBALregistry and synchronized item information with two major retailers.
UCCnet is a not-for-profit organization that provides item registry and data synchronization based on industry-developed standards. UCCnet enables registration and synchronization of item information, such as weight and dimensions, by providing a repository for standardized item, location and trading partner data.
Suppliers, such as $8 billion Kellogg, load item, location and trading partner information into the UCCnet GLOBALregistry. UCCnet checks the data for compliance to industry standards and synchronizes the data with demand side partners, ensuring that all trading partners are using identical, updated and standards-compliant data.
Kellogg used the Commerce One Xpress Start program to achieve data synchronization with Wal-Mart, publishing 99 products to the big box retailer in only two weeks. Kellogg then asked Commerce One to implement its Xpress Conveyor machine-to-machine integration solution to manage all aspects of retailer data synchronization through the UCCnet GLOBALregistry.
With Xpress Conveyor, Kellogg was also able to publish 97 items to Wegmans using minimal staff members in nine weeks. The company will continue to interact with Wegmans and Wal-Mart through a machine-to-machine interface, requiring limited staff upkeep on the system.
Ray Shei, vice president and chief information officer of Kellogg, said, "We are on-board and eager to work with as many UCCnet retail members as possible."
Kellogg, who subscribed to UCCnet last year, partnered with Commerce One after reviewing a variety of integration and implementation solutions offered through UCCnet's certified alliance community. Specifically, Kellogg was interested in utilizing a solution that would integrate with an existing SAP product-management system and Transora's marketplace solutions.
Kellogg projects a direct return of nearly $30 per month for each product that is fully maintained through UCCnet. The company's goal is to continue implementing UCCnet with additional retail partners.
"Kellogg expects that our partnership with UCCnet will help lower administrative costs and increase our speed to shelf for new items," Shei. "Ultimately, we see reduced deductions as a key benefit that will positively impact our bottom line."
A study recently completed by A.T. Kearney estimated that $40 billion, or 3.5 percent, of total sales lost each year are due to supply chain information inefficiencies. Specifically, the study showed that 30 percent of item data in retail catalogs have errors, which cost between $60 and $80 each and consume 25 minutes of manual cleansing per stock-keeping unit (SKU). Other findings revealed that 60 percent of all invoices generated errors and 43 percent of all invoices resulted in deductions.
