Ahead of the Game -- August 2004

As part of an initiative to streamline communications with its supplier base, Wal-Mart required that all of its trading partners adopt AS2, a specific connectivity standard for Internet EDI, no later than September 30, 2003. The retailer also required suppliers to provide product information to the UCCnet GLOBALRegistry, the Uniform Code Council's (UCC) standard foundation for data exchange among trading partners, by January 31, 2004.

While many of Wal-Mart's suppliers are still struggling to comply with these guidelines well into 2004, a small, private-label by the name of Morgan Foods has achieved compliance with Wal-Mart's September 2003 and January 2004 deadlines, therefore satisfying electronic trading requirements way ahead of schedule and in front of the competition.

"The private label market is a particularly competitive niche within the consumer products ecosystem," says Roger Heaverin, information systems manager, Morgan Foods. "As part of our strategy to increase business from Wal-Mart and our other major retail partners, we knew we needed to stay ahead of the curve of technology adoption. We carefully watch the technology initiatives of our retail partners (including AS2, UCCnet and now RFID) well before mandates are put in place."

A Private Party
Morgan Food's dedication to employing the latest technology innovations to support best business processes and customer satisfaction feeds its ability to supply the best products and services faster and more efficiently than its competitors. The company has been a member of the consumer food industry for more than 100 years and supplies a wide-range of private-label formulated products, including condensed and ready-to-serve soups, beans, gravies, hominy and sauces. Retail partners include the major grocery chains throughout the United States such as Publix, Kroger, Save-A-Lot, Aldi, Topco, Winn-Dixie and A&P. Annual sales currently exceed $100 million.

An Early Start
Morgan Foods first began facilitating electronic commerce with retail trading partners in 1994 by employing Inovis' TrustedLink EDI transformation software and value-added network (VAN) services. TrustedLink solutions serve as data transformation software, bridging the gap between a company and its trading partners while leveraging the speed and efficiency of the Internet. Companies such as Morgan Foods can then enjoy a digital dialog regardless of data format or standards.

The first EDI project began years ago to comply with Kroger's requirement. Since then, Morgan Foods recognized the value for its own business and has scaled its e-business infrastructure to accommodate the needs of retailers as technology evolves.

Electronic Advantage
Today, Morgan Foods uses Inovis' BizManager for UCCnet Services to synchronize product information with Wal-Mart through the UCCnet GLOBALRegistry. Additionally, BizManager helps Morgan Foods to meet retailer AS2 connectivity mandates with an Internet EDI solution for exchanging purchase orders, invoices and other business documents with trading partners. Now, Morgan Foods claims 90 percent of its transactions with retailers take place electronically and are powered by Inovis technology.

"Meeting these compliance mandates early has already had a positive impact on our retail relationships and driven efficiencies and cost savings in our own e-business and supply chain programs," says Heaverin.

By leveraging Inovis' BizManager family of retail item synchronization services and Internet Electronic Data Interchange (EDI-INT) software, Morgan Foods arms itself with the agility to respond to the data exchange and integration requirements of its customer base as they look to adopt AS2 and UCCnet standards.

According to Heaverin, Inovis is always current on the latest standards certifications and versions, so Morgan Foods doesn't worry about outgrowing its business commerce infrastructure even as it continues to scale its trading partner network. In fact, Morgan Foods is able to implement Internet EDI and retail item synchronization with its new customers in less than 24 hours.

"Wal-Mart is just the first, not the last, of our retail partners to require AS2," says Heaverin. "We envision a much wider rollout of AS2 and with Inovis' help, we have the infrastructure in place to accommodate other partners as they adopt this standard for trading partner communication."

The Next Big Mandate
So while Morgan Foods has taking the mid-market lead for compliance with Internet EDI (AS2) and UCCnet mandates, what steps is the company taking to tackle what may be the most controversial Wal-Mart mandate in retail and CG history -- RFID? At this point, the company is not required to comply with the retailer's RFID initiatives. However, "it's our strategy to stay ahead of the game, and we are already developing our RFID strategy," says Heaverin. "We are currently implementing an RFID project team and intend to be able to support RFID and the next wave of data collection when, if not before, we get the call from Wal-Mart."