Managing SKUs on the move - Brief Article

Euclid Beverage uses mobile computers to manage SKU proliferation.

Distributors these days have a tough time keeping up with the demand for information. In, the quest for share gain, marketers have extended their product lines, and more SKUs (stock keeping units) yield more product numbers and price discounts. Retailers are also rapidly extending their market presence with more stores, and more stores mean more route stops, and more times a route driver has to process all that information. Factor in the need to gather more performance information for each product, customer and location, and the result can be an extension headache.

Seeking relief, direct store delivery operators are using new mobile computers that track all products by name and number, and track customers by individual location.

These new mobile computers offer 386 processing and feature touch screens with drop-down menu options. They come equipped with sophisticated software programs that deliver customer information, permit messaging between a host computer and remote moblie computer, and switch easily between driver-sell and pre-sell applications. At the end of each delivery, these units communicate with a portable printer via RS232 to produce an invoice detailing the transaction. At the end of the route, the information in the moblie computer can be readily uploaded to a host computer via a simple communications dock to a corporate accounting system.

In suburban Chicago, Miller distributor Euclid Beverage has seen the number of SKUs jump from 75 to well over 200 for its 25 routes, controller Bill Poczekaj says. The need to handle more inventory and maintain more information about specific route stops led Euclid to upgrade recently from Norand 4500s to Pen*Key 6100 hand-held computers from the Norand Mobile Systems Division of Intermec Technologies Corporation, running sales delivery and merchandising (SDM) software.

"The prior technology was not able to keep up with daily invoice generation," Poczekaj says. "At the same time, our industry was changing. Marketing and competitive information is more and more important to our business. I started looking at sales delivery and merchandising software from Intermec. It is a fully functional application with driver-sell and pre-sell applications, and some pretty slick messaging capabilities and survey functions. At that point, I started looking at Norand hardware platforms that could run the new software. I settled on the Norand 6100 mobile computer because it offered the ability to upgrade information technology over a period of time. We can put in additional memory, and if we need to, incorporate scanning, radio frequency, and two-way radio. I can add any of these features without getting rid of what I have and making the investment (in hardware) over and over again. When we make an investment in hardware we want it to last four to five years."

Installation in two weeks

Direct communications between the hand-held system and the host computer was also important to Euclid. "Direct connection to our new RS/6000 is important to me because it takes one step out of the data transfer process," Poczekaj says.

To handle the installation and interface between the new hand-helds and the RS/6000, Poczekaj chose Data Concepts, a Norand Intermec Premiere Solutions provider in San Antonio, TX. Euclid is using Data Concepts Handheld Management System (HMS) middleware using an ODBC (Open Database Connectivity) connection to streamline the interface to the accounting system on the RS/6000, an IBM mid-range RISC processor designed to handle enterprise computing needs.

"With the HMS interface, users can take full advantage of Norand SDM software," explains Phil Beck, president of Data Concepts. "With the interface, the handhelds become more feature rich, tracking product displays and add-ons such as neon display signs and mirrors that greatly increase sales volume. The new 6100s have more memory and more speed so they deliver sub-second response time. The salesmen need that to handle the more complex sales promotions without experiencing lag time."

The installation and upgrade for all the beer routes of St. Charles, IL, was completed in just two weeks. Data Concepts, which has ten years experience implementing Norand automated route accounting systems, also handled all the training for drivers, administrators, and management. "We take responsibility for making sure the installation goes well," Beck says. "We are continuing to provide them with telephone technical support, upgrades to HMS and we will assist them with any upgrades to Norand SDM software."

As soon as implementation was complete, Poczekaj began collecting day-to-day data more easily. "I had to have very highly skilled technical people to tend to the communications process," he says. "Now one of the warehousemen starts and ends the communications process. He just looks at the screen to make sure information has been received for each route. Information is uploaded to the host computer, and new information downloaded to the hand-helds in about half the time of the previous system."

According to Poczekaj, the biggest impact has been felt out on the routes. The touch screen and faster processor have made generation of invoices faster and makes it easier to calculate discounts. "When we have substitute drivers, they just enter the case quantity, they don't have to enter the product information, and the correct discount for that customer pops up," he says. "Now the product discount for each product is on the invoice."

He says that the Norand 6100s are even making it easier to explain to customers the need to add new products or increase their inventory level of current items. "Customers are more concerned about profit. They want to know which are their low profit items. We can deliver that information, and use our ability to do so as a selling technique. Likewise, if we're trying to put in a new product, we can provide the customer with a calculation, right there on the mobile computer, of what the profit would be, given a purchase and a sale price."

By accessing customer history information on the hand-held, Poczekaj reports that Euclid drivers can show customers their current order level and show them times when they consistently run out before the next delivery.

"The driver can convince the ten-case customer he needs five more cases, or show him that by taking two more cases he is entitled to a discount," Bill Poczekaj says. "It all adds to my volume, and it also makes the customer happy."

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