Food Distribution Software – a competitive advantage

IBS ENTERPRISE Software – the integrated IT solution from IBS – is tailored for the global food processing and distribution market addressing the needs of commodity traders, importers, food processors and distributors. The solution's high functional product fit for the food industry focuses on food processing and warehouse management, customer service, collaborative forecasting, procurement, Distribution logistics, Financials and Business Intelligence.

The ability to link customer to supplier contracts, to capture and analyze demand at the retail level, and to aggregate this information back to the regional and national level for production and replenishment, can improve national and regional sales performance. Additionally, closer alignment of global supply contracts tied to FOREX contracts guarantees margins and ensures that currency cash flows are aligned to purchasing commitments. The IBS solution is designed to optimize business operations and analysis, helping you to maximize profits by focusing on:

• Asset control
• Automated decision support
• Closed loop batch control and 'best by date' handling
• FDA and EU regulation and compliance
• Improved productivity
• Improved profits and measurable ROI
• Increased customer awareness and personalized service
• Optimized supply chain collaboration
• Optimized warehouse utilization
• Reduced costs

The IBS food solution is built around advanced customer-oriented functionality that focuses on performance and service. Designed in cooperation with world-leading food producers and distributors, the solution meets such critical requirements as processing high order volumes; EDI, XML or web services communications; and delivery of pallets or cartons in-sequence with extremely short lead-times.

The software supports rapid identification of products with supporting specifications and pricing, online availability checking, original manufactures' recalls and product sales restrictions – translating sales demands directly to suppliers' products. All applications are multi-language, multi-currency and multi-company and, where appropriate, equipped to handle all major international and national legal and fiscal regulations for sales tax, GST, VAT, taxation and reporting.

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Customer relationship management (CRM)

Your web-enabled customers can have 24-7 one-stop-shop convenience with NetStore. This web-based module lets customers place and track sales or service orders, as well as check parts availability and prices. Customer and service information overviews are immediately available with graphical planning tools.

IBS software has broad functionality that is designed to support sales representatives, front-line distributors and commodity traders who manage direct sales to customers, including:

• AUTOMATED DELIVERY SCHEDULES

  The IBS solution automatically calculates required stock levels and creates orders based on customer forecasts transmitted via EDI. Forecasts are based on net or gross forecasts and current inventory, helping to ensure optimum stock levels and accurate deliveries

• BACK ORDERS AND SOURCING

  Can be handled automatically on a customer level at order entry, speeding up order fulfilment processes

• CONTRACT PROFITABILITY AND CURRENCY EXPOSURE

  Visibility of linked customer and supplier contract details, purchase commitments and FOREX contract bookings

• CONTRACT SALES PRICING

  Including product-specific and store-specific discounts and promotions, with full support for reverse billing or credit claim generation for supplier rebates, over-riders and retro adjustments

• ELECTRONIC CATALOG SUPPORT

  Easy, quick access to web-based catalogues, online pricing, personalized shopping lists and product availability. EDI and XML support for PRICAT pricing updates

• INTERNET CUSTOMER SELF-SERVICE

  NetStore lets customers place and track orders, helping to reduce your administrative costs. Credit card payment is supported

• LAPTOP AND REMOTE ORDERING

  Sales reps and authorized customers can enter orders from remote locations, using laptops and handheld devices, enabling quick 24/7 service and order entry and next day delivery

• ORDER STRUCTURES

  The IBS solution can take a menu order consisting of all the ingredients and ancillary products required for the meal and the number of covers

• PROOF OF DELIVER HANDLING

  Orders can be held prior to invoicing for delivery confirmation, preventing disputes and delayed payments

• SUBSTITUTES AND COMPLEMENTARY PRODUCTS

  The system can find and suggest substitutes for non-stocked items, helping to capture sales and retain customers, and it can also recommend complementary products for additional sales

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Procurement

• AUTOMATED PURCHASE SIMULATION AND SUGGESTION REVIEW

  You can obtain help in anticipating real procurement costs, maintaining safety stock and identifying critical purchasing needs. The IBS solution provides automatic simulation and suggestion management capabilities with review codes for product lines, helping to ensure accuracy, maximum line value, stock levels and optimized values

• CENTRALIZED PROCUREMENT SUPPORT

  Requests for quotations are generated automatically and sent to suppliers through EDI, XML, web service communications, fax or email. This quick creation and transmission can result in lower administrative costs, better prices and the ability to negotiate more favorable terms and conditions

• STOCK OPTIMIZATION

  Inventory Control provides you with tools for dynamic demand forecasting for different item segments, automated replenishment suggestions, inventory analysis and simulations. All of these functions help to ensure that the right products are available in stock, keeping lead-times on target and inventory at economical levels

• SUPPLIER CONTRACTS AND PRICING

  Supplier Marketing Support lets you take greater advantage of supplier discount programs. The software handles complex supplier rebate rules and can help you negotiate the best contract prices and record your FOREX cover against your forward purchasing commitments

• SUPPLIER DELIVERY PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS

  Based on current information from throughout the system, this analysis capability helps you to monitor suppliers' delivery performance and to make supplier delivery cost comparisons. Purchase ordering includes a quick comparison of suppliers' prices and their lead-times

• SURCHARGE HANDLING AND PACKAGING REPORTING

  Surcharges such as scrapping or package disposal fees are calculated automatically. Specific environmental taxes and statistics can be captured for country-specific reports

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Warehouse management

The IBS solution tracks warehousing operations and inventory levels throughout your own internal supply chain, ensuring that products can be easily located and dispatched to where they are needed. IBS automated warehousing handles all phases of product distribution, from reception all the way to put-away, picking and dispatch. Your warehouse configuration can be fully mapped with bulk storage zones for produce awaiting processing, down to aisles, rows, rack and bin level. You can also choose to have fixed or random locations.

Specific warehouse management advantages for the food industry include:

• BAR CODE AND RADIO FREQUENCY (RF) SUPPORT

  Fully integrated support for bar coding and RF handling automates the recognition, tracking and communication of bar codes and batch numbers. Forklift truck movements and totes can also be tracked so that produce can always be located – even between locations. This avoids pick and put-away errors, increasing customer satisfaction

• BATCH CONTROL

  In conjunction with RF, provides total closed loop support for batch controlled products including FIFO rotation and batch expire dates

• FULL PALLET AND PACKAGE TRACKING

  with information on inner and outer configurations from reception to warehouse location and out to dispatch. Whether you handle pallets or break bulk to forward pick locations, warehouse management will help you automate your operations, maintaining complete visibility of inventory movements and your warehouse staff

• FULL SUPPORT FOR INBOUND SHIPMENTS AND LANDED COSTS

  As part of the receiving process, all freight duty and shipping costs, in any currency, can be allocated against container contents to update inventory values with landed cost

• RECEIVING, CROSS-DOCKING, PUT-AWAY, PICKING AND PACKING

  The IBS solution helps to increase throughput velocity for faster receipt and delivery. Receipt against ASNs, RF dispatching and scanning or bar-coded are all designed to ensure that stock movements are recorded as they occur. Volume picking, priority pick-list printing and preferred pick and put-away unit handling are just a few automated features that help move large volumes of goods with top efficiency

• REPACKAGING AND LABELLING

  Provides customer specific value-added services such as repackaging, own label products and the printing of customer labels. Order structures provide simple Assembly and packaging routines in the warehouse without recourse to production control

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Distribution and logistics

• TRUCK ROUTING AND PLANNING

  Automated shipping optimization helps you dispatch stock efficiently based on system-supplied shipment plans, delivery advice and route plan creation, along with freight documents and loading area instructions. The IBS solution also provides support for non-fleet shipping management

• WAREHOUSE DIVERSION

  The system can automatically divert or block shipments from a warehouse location or change shipments for a specified line in case of a warehouse emergency, helping to ensure uninterrupted delivery and customer satisfaction

• SHIPMENT AND TRANSPORT DOCUMENTATION

  Including load plans, transport notes, shipment manifests, bills of lading, customer labels, export documents and proof of deliver (electronic capture of signatures)

• BACK-TO-BACK DELIVERY

  You can easily coordinate and cross-dock direct deliveries from suppliers to customers, helping to avoid delays in put-aways and picking. Direct shipment to customers is fully supported

• REVERSE LOGISTICS

  Transporting, handling and returning used products from end customers to a processing facility is a critical activity for food distributors, especially with recalls of non-conforming stock. BUSINESS PARTNER REQUEST is specifically designed to manage returned product in close collaboration with your warehousing operations, helping to accelerate the returns and credit process

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Financials

• ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE

  FINANCIALS helps you reduce the time taken to process customer payments and open item settlement using rules based manual or automated payment settlement. Credit management is another important focus to help manage customer debt and reduce average days outstanding. Statements, dunning letters, draft and bills discounting and interest charging support extensive enquiry and debt reduction capabilities

• ACCOUNTS PAYABLE

  Allows you to register and track supplier and expense invoices, book VAT or GST and match against purchase order and reception information including invoices for landed costs. Payments can be scheduled for when they are due, creating the appropriate payment documentation and EFT transmissions. A/P invoice matching allows forward charge date override, three-way match sorting sequences for checking invoice items, and automatic invoice matching from an incoming invoice file, to save time and resources in the invoice workflow

• ASSET MANAGEMENT

  IBS helps you manage your fixed assets including physical location management, insurance, servicing, depreciation, retirement and disposals. All the information that you need to maintain proper stewardship of your assets can be organized in a way that you find most appropriate

• ACTIVITY-BASED COSTING REPORTING

  Gives you the opportunity to measure and improve the efficiency of CRM and SCM processes. The IBS solution takes an ABC approach to customer and product net profitability without the need to employ management accountants. The net margin calculations are based on balance information that has already been captured as part of day-to-day transaction processing

• CASH FLOW MANAGEMENT

  Provides a complete picture of your company's cash flow, including views of all types of incoming and outgoing payments on a daily level, cash flow forecasts and balance files

• CUSTOMER INVOICING

  Major retail stores and some food services customers have very specific invoice formatting and transmission requirements. Invoices are often consolidated with the item lines sorted into store location order. Some retail chains require EDI invoices whereas others pay on proof of delivery

• INTERNATIONAL CURRENCY AND LANGUAGE CAPABILITY

  The system handles any currency and provides FOREX cover against forward currency contracts, helping to protect your margins from losses associated with adverse exchange rate fluctuations. Far-ranging language support means that you can communicate with customers all over the world in their language with, for example, multilingual transaction documentation

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Business Intelligence

Pre-loaded client applications with OLAP (On-Line Analytical Processing) tools for data marts are included. The IBS solution uses SCOR (Supply Chain Operations Reference model) to help measure business performance.

Contact IBS for more information on Food Services Distribution software »