Styrian company activeIT has specialised in customised merchandise management systems for food manufacturers. Through a strategic partnership with Austria's leading service provider for electronic data exchange, EDITEL, food producers are connected to virtually all major retail groups - such as Rewe, SPAR or Hofer. EDITEL knows the technical guidelines of the retail trade from decades of experience and ensures smooth digital communication in the supply chain by means of the data hub eXite.
Food producers such as Gemüse Perlinger, Unterweger Früchteküche or Giner from Tyrol rely on activeIT's merchandise management systems. Its sophisticated software optimizes internal processes and facilitates operational planning. In the course of supplying the central warehouses of the domestic food retail trade with fruit, vegetables, canned food and other products, it is also necessary for the producers to permanently exchange orders, delivery notes or invoices with the trade. Thanks to the cooperation with EDITEL, this Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) now runs via its international data hub eXite, to which de facto all major retail groups in Austria are connected.
EDITEL CEO Gerd Marlovits (l) and Marko Klein, Managing Director activeIT.
Smooth processing through automatic data exchange
"EDI enables our customers to make payments quickly and easily, as delivery notes and invoices are automatically transmitted to and from our system," explains activeIT managing director Marko Klein. The networking minimizes manual sources of error for food producers and saves valuable time for the employees. EDITEL managing director Gerd Marlovits also underlines the advantages for all sides through the cooperation.
"activeIT's tailor-made merchandise management systems for food producers and EDITEL's many years of know-how about the respective requirements of retail companies complement each other perfectly and offer our respective customers real added value," Marlovits is convinced. Cross-industry standards (note: EDIFACT) are used, which are also used internationally.
Solution for order changes and replacement deliveries
A special challenge for the correct data collection is usually replacement deliveries and order changes - but EDITEL and activeIT found an optimal solution for this as well. The delivery of replacement items is common practice in the fruit and vegetable trade. If, for example, an ordered apple variety should not be available, other varieties can usually be delivered to the central warehouse as a substitute in accordance with agreements. In this way the shelves always remain adequately stocked and customers can continue to expect a wide range of products.
activeIT and EDITEL have also jointly found a solution for other specifics of the industry, such as scope in terms of packaging or package size. "We are able to consistently map deviating information between order forms and delivery notes, so that an automated comparison is also possible in this case. This also applies to order changes and replacement deliveries," explains Marlovits.
Even closer cooperation planned for the future
Other food producers could also soon benefit from activeIT's partnership with EDITEL, as Marlovits announces: "We are already in the preparation phase for another company, and talks are underway with others. Thanks to our international orientation, we can support producers not only with Austrian retail customers, but also when they move abroad, for example to Germany."
For more information:
www.editel.at
www.active-it.at