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15+ Store Chain in the Midwest Implements ADC's P-Cubed In-Store Fresh Production Planner

A 15+ store chain in the Midwest has implemented ADC’s P-Cubed In-Store Fresh Production Planner in their meat departments.

The P-Cubed In-Store Fresh Production Planner generates demand-based production plans from store-specific sales forecasts, which results in the retailer having the optimum amount and variety of fresh foods available at the right time for their customers.  The retailer began the implementation of the module after their successful rollout of ADC’s P-Cubed Shrink Manager.

“Our first priority in our FIM project was identifying our shrink factors.  Once we had visibility of this information, we began the second phase of our FIM project, which was production planning,” said the company’s FIM Coordinator.  “The first measured results have come from our ground beef, where we’ve had a 50% shrink reduction, without impacting our sales.  Additionally, customers have been complementing our stores on the overall freshness of our meat products.  We’re looking forward to installing this in our bakery departments next.”

With the P-Cubed In-Store Fresh Production Planner, store associates are provided with system-generated production plans as simple “to-do” lists, advising how much of each product to prepare to meet expected sales while minimizing the amount of wastage at the end of the day.

“When a customer starts a FIM project, we work with them to create an implementation schedule, so they are implementing software modules in an order that helps address their specific and immediate needs,” said Steve Loveridge, ADC’s CEO.  “This helps the customer see fast results in the early stages of implementation and builds momentum for later phases of their FIM project.”

Are you Prepared for the Impending COOL Changes?

Are you prepared for the FDA's latest changes to the Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) labeling legislation that go into effect November 23, 2013 in the USA?

The most recent changes to COOL require that retailers now include Born In, Raised In and Slaughtered In for muscle cuts of beef, lamb, chicken, goat and pork. 

ADC's COOL module is a licensable module within InterStore that can help you meet the upcoming labeling legislation changes by allowing you to centrally control COOL content to all of your stores labeling devices.

If you're interested in learning more, please call us at +1.813.849.1818.

ADC's 12th annual ReFresh Conference was held from October 7th-October 10th, 2013 at the Sheraton Sand Key Resort in Clearwater Beach, Florida.  ReFresh attendees represented eighteen retailers from across the United States.
 

 

The ReFresh agenda included FIM software presentations, retailer chaired roundtable sessions, a retailer presentation and industry update presentations.
 
ReFresh kicked off on Monday, October 7th with a Welcome Reception where attendees had the opportunity to meet and network prior to conference sessions starting.
 
Sessions started Tuesday, October 8th with a Welcome and Introduction by Steve Loveridge, ADC’s CEO.  Steve highlighted the conference agenda, introduced the members of ADC’s Retail Advisory Board (RAB) in attendance and concluded with retailer introductions.
 
“It’s my great pleasure to welcome you to the 12th annual ReFresh Fresh Item Management Conference,” said Steve Loveridge.  “We appreciate everyone being here and look forward to an exciting conference full of great discussions.  Throughout the conference please ask questions, as we want this to be as interactive as possible.”
 
Other highlights of Day One included an overview of InterStore 6.4.3, the latest version of ADC’s FIM software, presented by Robert Appell, Chief Operating Officer, and Mark Molter, Director of Sales Support.  This session included a sneak peek at the latest NutriGen Recipe Manager software in .Net, which is scheduled to be released in Q1 2014.
 
In addition to FIM software updates, the ReFresh agenda also included:

• “Regulatory Update: Key Issues in Food Safety and Labeling” by Erik Lieberman, Regulatory Counsel at the Food Marketing Institute.  Erik shared upcoming food safety legislation that will affect retailers, including the changes to Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) and the Food Safety and Modernization Act (FSMA).
• “Consumer Drivers of Fresh Food Growth” by Sarah Schmansky, Director of Account Services at Nielsen Perishables Group.  Sarah discussed current trends in the fresh food departments, including consumer trends and behavior.
• “Electronic Grind Log” by Larry Kohl, Director of Food Safety at Delhaize America.  Larry discussed how Delhaize America is implementing and using ADC’s Meat Grind Traceability software, including how the software is better preparing stores for transparent record retention and retrieval.

Retailer Feedback:

• “Very informative and one of the best conferences I’ve attended!”
• “Excellent opportunity to understand how other retailers are using ADC’s software.  The insight on how other retailers are doing things is crucial!  Thank you for the opportunity!”
• “Topics were relevant and timely and presenters were very informative.  Seminars were very motivating and on target.”  

Sponsor Interaction – This year’s ReFresh had 8 industry sponsors, including Mettler Toledo, Rice Lake Retail Solutions, Specialty Printing, Zebra Technologies, Bizerba, BRdata, Hobart and NBI Digi.  Each sponsor showcased the latest hardware and technology solutions available for fresh food retailers.

 

Information on ReFresh 2014 will be announced soon. For additional information, please contact:

Jamie Simon

ADC

+1.813.849.1818 Ext. 2238

 

"Guide to Fresh Item Management"

If you're interested in learning more about Fresh Item Management, please click here to download a copy of our "Guide to Fresh Item Management."
 

Trade Show News

We're at the Mettler Toledo Customer Council this week in St. Louis, so stop and say hi if you're there too!

Webinar: Understanding the New Country of Origin Labeling Law and In-Store Traceability

Join us August 15 at 2:00pm EST for the next webinar in our monthly webinar series. 

With the recent changes to the Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) legislation, traceability has once again become a much talked about food safety topic. Your stores are now expected to provide even more information regarding origin of meats in their meat cases.

ADC works regularly with retailers to help meet the latest traceability legislations, including COOL. This thirty minute webinar will highlight the recent changes to COOL, the items that should be considered when looking at a COOL solution and a discussion on solutions available from ADC.

Click here to register.

NACS Article: Fresh Solutions by Fiona Briggs

A UK Journalist, Fiona Briggs, wrote an article for the July issue of the NACS Magazine discussing technology solutions for fresh food departments.

Read the article here to find out how our InterStore software is helping our customer's increase the profitability of their fresh food departments.

Interested in learning more? Be sure to sign up for the ReFresh Fresh Item Management (FIM) conference, October 7-10, 2013 at the Sheraton Sand Key Resort in Clearwater Beach, Florida.   Learn more here.

A Food Marketing Institute Study Recognizes ADC’s P-Cubed Production Manager System as an Effective Shrink Control Tool

The Food Marketing Institute (FMI) recently released the “Food Retailing Financial and Business Review 2012-2013,” which includes a detailed overview and analysis of shrink in food retailing.
 
The study found that the average total store shrink (as a percentage of sales, excluding gasoline and pharmacy sales) was 2.9% among all respondents and 3.4 percent among companies operating 51 or more stores. The highest levels of shrink were measured in the fresh food departments — deli/prepared foods (9.7%), bakery (6.9%), meat (5.5%) and produce (4.4%).*

Study respondents provided a list of tools and processes they have found to be most effective in managing shrink. Improved tracking, analysis and reporting was the first and foremost way, with several retailers calling out improved perishable management in particular.

Responses included, “Fresh-item management systems that produce accurate costs for prepared items,” “data analysis down to the item level” and direct mentioning of our P-Cubed Production Manager Software System.

Specifically, our P-Cubed Shrink Manager module identifies shrink factors, assisting management with reducing perishable food wastage and helping to reduce shrink in fresh food categories. The P-Cubed Shrink Manager also reduces the amount of labor required to capture and report shrink by using hand-held wireless barcode scanners.

“Many of our clients are reporting significant reductions in shrink, without negatively impacting sales, by using our P-Cubed Shrink Manager,” said Steve Loveridge, CEO at ADC. “By tracking and understanding where perishable shrink is occurring, grocery chains have a great opportunity to improve the bottom line in their fresh food departments.”

The P-Cubed Shrink Manager is a module within P-Cubed, a system within ADC's InterStore Fresh Item Management (FIM) software suite. The other two systems within InterStore are the InterScale Scales Manager and the NutriGen Recipe Manager. InterStore provides grocers with an integrated software solution to help increase efficiencies in fresh food departments.

*“Food Retailing Financial and Business Review 2012-2013” published by the Food Marketing Institute - http://fmi.org/forms/store/ProductFormPublic/search?action=1&Product_productNumber=3113
 

Happy 4th of July!

ADC Announces 1st European Client - Dansk Supermarked Gruppen Selects InterScale Scales Manager

ADC is pleased to announce our first European client, Dansk Supermarked Gruppen (DSG), who has selected ADC’s InterScale Scales Management Software system.

DSG is Denmark’s largest retail group, consisting of seven retail chains and department stores.  DSG licensed ADC’s InterScale Scales Management software for its Føtex supermarkets and Bilka hypermarkets, as part of an In-Store Food Production (ISFP) system to help improve the gross margins in the two chains fresh food departments. 

“Implementing ADC’s InterScale is the first phase of our ISFP system.  InterScale communicates directly with all of our hosted in-store devices, including barcode labelling scales and printers,” said Alan Jensen, IT Director at DSG.  “We believe an ISFP system will help us improve our fresh department operations and, therefore, correct any margin reducing practices.”

With InterScale, Dansk can manage all scales data centrally, including event batch creation and management, sending network tests, re-loading scales and pulling back data for comparison reporting.  Additionally, InterScale provides insight into what has been produced versus what has been sold, further helping to improve fresh department efficiencies.

“We are very pleased to announce DSG as our first European customer.  With the opening of our Europe Middle East and African (EMEA) Sales office last year, we’ve received a lot of interest and this is a great milestone for our company,” said Steve Loveridge, ADC’s CEO.  “We look forward to working with Dansk in the coming months and further understanding their ISFP system needs.”

InterScale is one of three software systems that comprise InterStore, ADC’s Fresh Item Management (FIM) software suite.  The other two systems are: NutriGen Recipe Manager, which provides interactive recipes for store operators for items produced or finished in stores, and the P-Cubed Production Manager, which automates, manages and tracks production in the fresh departments of grocery stores.

IDDBA in Orlando

 

Here's a look at our booth from the IDDBA Show in Orlando.  Click here to see what other upcoming events we will be at.  See you soon!

International Dairy Deli Bakery Association Expo

We're gearing up for the 2013 International Dairy Deli Bakery Association Expo in Orlando, Florida, June 2-4.  We'll be in Booth #5806 offering demonstrations of NutriGen, our Recipe Management Software System.

 

NutriGen:

 

• Centrally defines recipes, combining vendor supplied sub-assemblies with your own raw materials.
• Generates legally complaint ingredient, nutrifact and labeling panels. 
• Quickly sends recipe updates to all in-store barcode labeling scales and printers.
• Calculates the true cost of recipe items, including packaging and labor costs.
 

NutriGen is one of three software systems that comprise InterStore, ADC's Fresh Item Management (FIM) software suite.  The other two systems are:

 

• InterScale Scales Manager for hosting data to/from any mix of barcode labeling scales, printers or kiosks.
P-Cubed Production Manager tracks fresh department inventory received, produced, sold, marked-down and thrown away, as well as as generate demand-driven production plans.

 

See you at the show!

Speakers Announced for 2013 ReFresh Conference

We're excited to announce two speakers for the 2013 ReFresh conference - Erik Lieberman of the Food Marketing Institute (FMI) and Sarah Schmansky of the Nielsen Perishables Group.

This year’s ReFresh is at the Sheraton Sand Key Resort in Clearwater Beach, Florida from October 7th-10th.  ReFresh is an educational conference for grocery chains and food service retailers who are looking to share and learn about FIM software solutions and technology.  To learn more about ReFresh 2013 or to register, click here.

Erik Lieberman is the Regulatory Counsel at the Food Marketing Institute and represents the food retailing and wholesaling industries before federal agencies ranging from the Food and Drug Administration and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, to the Department of Labor and Department of Justice.  Erik’s presentation on October 8th will focus on current and impending legislation affecting the food retailing industry, including updates on the Menu Labeling legislation.

Sarah Schmansky is the Director of Retail Programs at the Nielsen Perishables Group.  Sarah is responsible for building strategic partnerships with leading national and regional supermarket retailers. Prior to joining the Nielsen Perishables Group, Sarah was in store-level and operational management with The Kroger Company. During Sarah’s presentation on October 9th, she will discuss key trends in performance across all fresh food departments, including consumer behavior.

“Having industry updates and presentations on the ReFresh agenda is a key component each year,” said Robert Appell, ADC’s Chief Operating Officer.  “It’s very important that we provide attendees with information that they can use to improve their fresh food operations, as well as share with colleagues after the conference.”

Publix Super Markets Selects and Implement's ADC's InterScale Scales Management Software System

ADC announces that Publix Super Markets, a 1,068 store chain headquartered in Lakeland, Florida, has selected InterScale, ADC’s Scales Management Software system, for data transmission to and from the barcode labeling scales in their stores.

InterScale communicates with over fifty different types of barcode labeling scales, printers and kiosks, from a variety of manufacturers.

InterScale is a toolset within ADC’s InterStore FIM software suite and works with the NutriGen Recipe Manager and the P-Cubed In-Store Food Production Manager to provide grocers with an integrated software solution to help increase efficiencies in their fresh departments.

“InterScale allows Publix to not only send on-time scale batches, but it also lays the groundwork for future FIM projects,” said Steve Loveridge, ADC’s CEO.

Retail Business Technology Expo

Here's a look at our booth at the Retail Business Technology Expo at this week's show in London. 

Click here to find out where you can see ADC next.

"Increase Efficiency and Fresh Food Safety in Bakery and Deli Departments" Webinar

Join us March 20 at 2:00pm EST for the next webinar in our monthly webinar series. 

Compliance with food safety legislation is a continued challenge for grocery/supermarket, foodservice and convenience store chains. Additionally, many customers expect detailed calorie information be readily available on prepared food items.

Join ADC for a forty five minute webinar that will show you how NutriGen, our recipe management software system, automates recipe handling and increases fresh food safety.

NutriGen generates ingredient and nutrifact labeling panels and updates in-store scales and printers through your scales management system, while managing your prepared food production costs.

Click here to register.

Retail Business Technology Expo

We're 11 days away from the start of the Retail Business Technology Expo (RBTE) in London and we're excited to announce that Steve Loveridge, our CEO, has been selected to co-present with Jonathan Key, Fresh Item Management (FIM) Coordinator at Brookshire Grocery Company.

Steve and Jonathan's presentation, "Fresh Food Retail: How to Maintain Profitability through Technology," outlines the unique challenges associated with maintaining profitability in fresh food departments for grocery/supermarket, food service and convenience chains and how technology can help reduce these challenges.  The presentation is on Tuesday, 12th March at 2:45pm in Theatre B.

RBTE runs from 12th March - 13th March at Earls Court in London and is the UK and Europe's leading Retail Expo with over 8,000 visitors from the UK, mainland Europe and the rest of the world.  RTBE attendees can also visit ADC in our stand, 674. 

"This is the third consecutive year we have attended RBTE and it has proven to be a valuable retail industry event to attend," said Steve Loveridge, CEO at ADC.  "Each year our involvement with the event has increased and we are very much looking forward to this year's event.  We look forward to sharing how our solutions are delivering double-digit returns in both shrink savings and fresh item sales increases."

In addition to the Main Theatre presentation, Steve is also presenting "Fresh Food Grocery Retailing: Sales up, Shrink Down" in the Pecha Kucha theatre on 12th March at 11:10am and 13th March at 2:40pm.

For more information on the RBTE show, visit www.RetailBusinessTechnologyExpo.com.

Trade Show Pictures

It's hard to believe we've exhibited at 5 shows in the first 2 months of 2013.  We wanted to share some pictures from the past 2 shows, EuroCIS in Germany and the AMI Meat Conference in Nashville.

EuroCIS Show in Düsseldorf Germany.



AMI Meat Conference Show in Nashville, Tennessee.

ReFresh 2013 Dates Announced

We're excited to announce the dates of our annual ReFresh Fresh Item Management (FIM) Conference and User Group - October 7-10, 2013 at the Sheraton Sand Key Resort in Clearwater Beach, Florida.

Now in its 12th year, ReFresh offers grocery/supermarket, convenience and food service retailers the opportunity to network with industry peers and experts. ReFresh attendees receive a first-hand look at the latest Fresh Item Management (FIM) technology available, as well as hear new industry trends and information.

ReFresh attendees come from a variety of operational departments, including Information Technology/Information Systems, Directors/Managers, FIM Coordinators, Fresh Department Directors/Managers and Store Operations/Systems.

“We’re excited to be planning our 12th ReFresh conference,” said Steve Loveridge, ADC’s CEO. “As we do each year, we are adjusting the agenda to provide even more information to our ReFresh attendees, so be sure to mark your calendar. We look forward to showing all attendees how our solutions are delivering double-digit returns in both shrink savings and fresh item sales increases.”

Click here to find the latest information on ReFresh.

Recap of ReFresh 2013 

Attendees of ReFresh 2012 represented twelve different chains, across the United States. They spent two days sharing and discussing ways to improve fresh department efficiencies. Industry experts offered insights into industry trends and best practices:

• “Food Safety Update at the Retail Level: Expert Advice from the Dean of Recalls” by Gale Prince, President of SAGE Food Safety Consultants – Gale shared important statistics on fresh food recalls, as well as the cost and long-lasting effects of recalls. Gale also discussed important steps in planning for recalls; including keeping electronic records and ensuring you have a recall process in place.
• “Major Trends in the Supermarket Perimeter” by Anne-Marie Roerink, Principal at 210 Analytics – Anne-Marie presented her most recent research on shopper behavior, including the growing trends of shopper’s saving money by simply cutting back on their grocery purchases and thoroughly checking price comparisons for the more expensive food purchases, such as meat.

Partner Interaction - ReFresh 2012 had six industry partners sponsor the event, where they were able to showcase their latest solutions for grocery/supermarket retailers.  ReFresh attendees were able to interact and network with Bizerba, Epson, Hobart, Ishida Rice Lake Retail Solutions, NBI Digi and Zebra Technologies.

Want more information? Contact Jamie Simon at +1.813.849.2238.

Carlie C's Selects and Implements ADC's InterScale Scales Management Software System

Applied Data Corporation (ADC) announces that Carlie C’s, a 16 store grocery company headquartered in Dunn, North Carolina, has selected and implemented ADC’s InterScale Scales Management Software system.

Carlie C’s, a member of the Independent Grocer’s Alliance (IGA), selected ADC’s InterScale software to host data to and from the scales in their fresh food departments. InterScale provides Carlie C’s with the ability to manage all scales data centrally, including event batch creation and management, sending network tests, re-loading scales and pulling back data for comparison reporting.

“InterScale has helped to reduce the time it takes to complete in-store tasks, including sending network tests and price adjustments,” said Rick Jones, IT Director at Carlie C’s. “With InterScale, we also have visibility into everything that was produced at the scale and can compare that to what has been sold. InterScale has also allowed our choices of manufacturers to be expanded thus saving money on purchasing equipment”

InterScale is one of three software systems that comprise InterStore, ADC’s Fresh Item Management (FIM) software suite. The other two systems are: NutriGen Recipe Manager, which provides interactive recipes for store operators for items produced or finished in stores, and the P-Cubed Production Manager, which automates, manages and tracks production in the fresh departments of grocery stores.

“With InterScale installed as their FIM foundation, Carlie C’s can now add additional modules within InterStore, as their needs grow,” said Steve Loveridge, ADC’s CEO. “InterStore helps our clients, such as Carlie C’s, make their fresh departments more profitable by better managing the inventory at their stores and providing more accurate information to enterprise systems, such as merchandising and supply chain.”

NRF 2013

It's been a great show for us at NRF 2013.  During our time at NRF, we met with existing clients and were able to meet with many prospects.  If you didn't get a chance to see us at NRF, don't worry! We will be at a variety of other shows throughout 2013.  You can see a full list here. 

We hope you enjoyed seeing us on the ARTS Pavilion and we look forward to seeing you at next year's show!

“Achieving Operational Excellence in Meat Departments”

We're excited to start the New Year with the first of our monthly webinar series.  Join us Wednesday, January 30, 2013 for “Achieving Operational Excellence in Meat Departments.”

Mark Molter, Principal Demonstrator, at ADC will be presenting a thirty minute webinar on the current challenges in meat departments and how Fresh Item Management (FIM) software solutions can help to increase efficiencies and set operational standards in your meat departments.

Sign up here: http://goo.gl/OP5qd.

Want Your Voice Heard?

ADC’s Retail Advisory Board (RAB) is comprised of current ADC customers who meet regularly and offer advice to ADC in regards to the direction of the company’s product development, priority and urgency of the development.

The RAB is a great forum to interact with current users, share ideas, ask ADC representatives questions and hear company updates from ADC.  Additionally, the RAB offers insights into operations that can enhance ADC’s software developments.  Meetings are held ten (10) times a year.

If you’re interested in joining or learning more about ADC’s RAB, please contact Jamie Simon at Jamie.Simon@AppliedDataCorp.com or +1.813.849.2238.