EDI Portal Helps Distributors Meet Retailer ASN Requirements, Boosts Storage Management and Efficiency
Guildford, UK (18 January 2010) - Freeway Commerce, an Inovis company, today announced it has developed the Advanced Shipping Notes (ASN) Consolidator Portal (ACP), an internet-based solution that will help distributors, haulage companies and consolidators to quickly and efficiently provide retailers with advance information on the delivery of stock.
The solution will help suppliers of all sizes meet the electronic ASN requirements of retailers such as B&Q, John Lewis, House of Fraser, Homebase, Sainsburys and Tesco. The retailers are increasingly requiring the use of electronic ASN's to more accurately track the movement of goods from suppliers, enabling them to forecast when deliveries will be received and optimise stock levels for better warehouse and storage efficiency.
Freeway Commerce developed this solution to address this increased demand from retailers. Many distributors and logistics companies' back-office systems do not automatically support the creation of EDI ASN messages as standard, particularly with requirements to consolidate deliveries from multiple suppliers into single shipments. To develop alternative solutions within their back-office systems would require bespoke work at further cost and complexity.
Answering this need, the Freeway ACP facilitates the receipt of delivery information from individual suppliers and then creates consolidated ASN messages in EDI format for onward transmission to the retailers. An on-line application allows users to specify which pallets will be used to make up deliveries and to effectively 'build' loads accordingly. Optionally, pallet labels (such as SSCC) can be generated by the system along with any other messages such as manifests as required. Suppliers can supply their ASN's to the ACP in the standard EDI format, having generated these internally from their own back office systems.
Based on a simple web interface, the ACP is accessible by multiple users from any location with an internet connection and suitable web browser. Historical information can be retained and system reports generated on request. Suppliers can use the same interface to trade with multiple retailers, handling the data and message requirements even if they are different for each partner.
"We received a request from a major retail trading partner to start using consolidated ASN messages for the delivery of goods from different suppliers across the UK. We called upon Freeway Commerce to help us as we had worked with them before and knew they had experience in this area," said James Cooper, IT Manager, Samworth Brothers Distribution. "Freeway Commerce worked closely with us to provide a user friendly end-to-end solution, setting up the ACP system including all of the EDI requirements, as well as enabling our client suppliers to connect to the system so that we could consolidate messages for the retailer. A potentially complex development process was made much simpler for us as Freeway responded quickly to additional requirements highlighted during the development and implementation process. The ACP has now become a key part of the systems which help enable us to provide a quality service to our customers."
"As increasing numbers of retailers across the UK request that suppliers implement ASN's as part of their EDI process, the need for the technology to support this becomes increasingly important, especially for smaller suppliers using hauliers such as Samworth Brothers to make deliveries on their behalf," said Paul Kaye, Business Development Director, Freeway Commerce. "The ACP removes a potential headache for hauliers and logistics companies that need to meet these new requirements, it is also straightforward for suppliers to submit their documents by using standard EDI messages and protocols."
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