Suppliers, Retailers Honored

RANDOLPH, N.J.

In a year when numerous companies have held off implementing new technology initiatives due to a slowing economy, many others have utilized information technology to spur growth and improve profitability and productivity. At the third annual Consumer Goods Information Technology Conference three such companies were recognized for their leadership and excellence.

The awards were sponsored by i2 Technologies, a provider of a wide variety of collaborative e-business services and a major sponsor of the 2001 Consumer Goods Conference.

The Technology Leadership Award went to St. Louis-based Anheuser-Busch Inc. for its role in developing an assortment solution that enables retailers and manufacturers to work together to create optimum product assortments and shelf sets within a category management environment. The Pro/sortment Efficient Item Assortment software incorporates and automates the best practice, six-step efficient item assortment process as published by The Food Marketing Institute. Anheuser-Busch worked with JDA Software Group to develop the software

Anheuser-Busch is realizing dramatic productivity and implementation cycle improvements as a result of this software, and its retailer customers are experiencing improved shelf conditions, lower stock outs and better overall product and category performance.

Franklin Park, Ill-based Dean Foods Co. was named Collaborative Consumer Goods Company of the Year for its work in using e-commerce to manage and strengthen customer relationships. The company's diverse product offerings allow them to sell into every channel of food distribution, from convenience stores to supermarkets.

Using software from Sterling Commerce, Dean Foods has been a leader in using e-commerce to create customized e-business customer relationships that are tailored to the individual business requirements of each customer. This has dramatically strengthened its customer relationships by streamlining the ordering, invoicing and replenishment processes on a customer-by-customer basis, said Gary Rietz, vice president and chief information officer of Dean Foods

Shaw's Supermarkets, based in East Bridgewater, Mass, was presented with the Collaborative Trading Partner of the Year Award for its leadership in implementing business-to-business collaborative commerce transactions across the Internet, on a machine-by-machine basis, with its vendor suppliers. In particular, Shaw's has led the retail industry in implementing B2B data synchronization and integration software, which synchronizes disparate databases of its consumer goods suppliers and sales agents, and integrates them into Shaw's own legacy system.
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