Raising the Bar on Global Standards
Thought Leadership
Global Data Synchronisation at Work in the Real World
Retailers and consumer products manufacturers are realizing tangible benefits from Global Data Synchronisation.
Read moreShould organisations care about global standards? The answer is definitely “Yes.”
Complying with global standards can generate supply chain savings and productivity improvements of 1-3% for retailers and consumer products manufacturers, impacting the bottom line by 10-15%. The improvement potential is comparable for both retailers and manufacturers, and these benefits apply for companies of all sizes.
In a new report titled “The Case for Global Standards”, Capgemini and the Global Commerce Initiative (GCI) provide the background and business rationale for adopting global standards and Global Data Synchronisation (GDS) and address the implications of implementation.
The forecasted, siginificant long-term benefits can enable the large-scale implementation of more collaborative business processes. Thus, in addition to the value created for retailers and manufacturers, consumers will also benefit through improved product availability, product assortment and customer service.
The Global Commerce Initiative (GCI) is working to ensure the availability of consistent voluntary supply chain standards. GCI has already published several recommendations ranging from implementation guidelines for the Global Trade Item Number (GTIN) to best-practice recommendations for Collaborative Planning, Forecasting and Replenishment (CPFR). All the work has been accomplished by Global Working Groups, which consist of participants from retailers, manufacturers and the standards organisations EAN International and the Uniform Code Council Inc. (UCC).
The focus of the new report is on GTIN (Global Trade Item Number), GLN (Global Location Number) and GDS (Global Data Synchronisation). GDS is a process that builds on GTIN and GLN and is designed to help keep everyone in the industry on the same page by ensuring that basic data such as item and party information stored by one company matches the corresponding data in the systems of their business partners.
The adoption and implementation of global standards is expected to yield significant benefits for the retail and consumer products industry:
- Eliminate costs associated with corrections caused by inaccurate information.
- Reduce dependence on the human involvement in non-value adding activities through the automation of these processes.
- Improve response to consumer demands through better sourcing opportunities.
- Support food safety initiatives through better visibility, identification and traceability.
- Improve trading partner relationships through better communication.
- Increase speed to shelf through reduced product introduction time.
Beyond these benefits, GDS will provide the foundation for a more advanced supply chain in the Consumer Package Goods industry. Large-scale collaborative business processes like CPFR can be implemented on top of this foundation, creating long-term benefits that cannot be accomplished within the current chain.
Early in 2002, Capgemini was approached by the GCI steering group to support the development of the business case rationale for implementing a number of GCI-endorsed EANlUCC standards. The decision was made to focus on GTIN, GLN and GDS.
In April and May 2002 the Capgemini team conducted in-depth on-site interviews with 16 operating companies representing 11 retailers and manufacturers. The interviews covered a wide range of business areas, including supply chain, warehouse management, category management, brand management, buying and selling, financial control and IT management.
The Capgemini Accelerated Solutions Environment (ASE) was used to bring the diverse perspectives of a variety of retail and consumer products companies together to develop a jointly assembled business case rationale. A total of 85 participants from 22 companies worked collaboratively in two ASE sessions (one in Utrecht, the Netherlands and one in Chicago, U.S.A.) on the business case for global standards.
Over the course of many months, the following companies contributed their industry knowledge to this project:
Retailers/Wholesalers
Ahold
Albertson’s
Best Buy
Carrefour
CVS
Fleming
Metro
Sears
Target
Tesco
Manufacturers
Coca-Cola
Georgia-Pacific
Gillette
Henkel
Johnson & Johnson
Kodak
Kraft
Masterfoods
Nestlé
Philips
Procter & Gamble
Sara Lee
Unilever
Standards Organisations
EAN International
ECCC
UCC
How Can Capgemini Help?
Capgemini has developed a generic growth-path framework and a good understanding overview of the GDS implementation landscape. Our approach can help companies actually define their business case and build their roadmap for adoption and implementation. More importantly, Capgemini has all the ingredients to help companies implement the global standards and begin applying GDS. We have developed tailored offerings to help companies prepare for adoption and implementation.
- Awareness Discovery Day - Should you care about Global Standards and Global Data Synchronisation? What are the implications for your company?
- Business Case - Identifies company-specific benefits of adoption and implementation and asseses the implementation effort needed to reach these benefits.
- Roadmap - Defines the plan and scope of company-specific GDS-enabled business transformation.
- Implementation - Defines the adoption and implementation growth-path based on the critical success factors for implementation.