GS1 programme certifies first supplier

 

Comprising more than 100 checks for best-practice compliance with the standards established by the supply chain body across suppliers’ processes and product information, the certification programme is designed to drive data quality, delivery accuracy and trust in customer-supplier trading relationships.

 

The organisation added that ‘trusted status’ benefits suppliers through using electronic messaging to support more efficient goods in checks, quicker turnaround times on deliveries and fewer items rejected, while retailers can increase efficiency, capacity and more importantly get goods to shelf for customers quicker.

Mondelez UK was tested in three key areas: the ability to correctly and consistently deploy electronic data interchange (EDI) systems; the accuracy of its product data; and the quality of its shipping labels and barcodes. GS1 UK simultaneously trained and accredited over 30 Mondelez UK employees for their knowledge of these areas.

Rob Bullen, Mondelez UK director of customer supply and Centre of Excellence, commented: “We joined the Certificate of Excellence Programme believing our processes and procedures were very robust, but the insights for me were that retailers and suppliers have become adept at working around data issues, rather than tackling them. 

While we may have experienced very few issues as a result of data errors, this was still causing avoidable downstream activity. As a result of the certification process we are now easier to do business with for our retail partners.”

 

Jim Dickson, Tesco End-to-End (E2E) supply chain development manager, commented on the programme. “Certificate of Excellence supports many standards of our new in-bound processes," he said. "It allows us to reduce dwell time from vehicle arrival to the product being available to assemble. It also helps us to support other product availability initiatives. We look forward to working with GS1 UK to roll out the programme to all our leading suppliers.”

GS1 UK said it is working with industry to promote adoption of the Certificate of Excellence among other leading grocery retailers and their suppliers to help bring greater efficiencies and drive out costs from the supply chain.

 

Gary Lynch, GS1 UK chief executive, added: “We are delighted that Mondalez UK have become the first supplier to be certified and are already seeing the business benefits of the Certificate of Excellence in their trading relationship with Tesco.”

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