OREANDA-NEWS. On 11 January 2008 was announced, that "Lenta" Company had made the decision to assume upon itself the costs of carrying out all services of outgoing orders processing according to EDI technology (electronic order data exchange with suppliers). The company’s estimated costs would make 3,5 million roubles annually.

In general, about one-third of all suppliers (approximately 500 companies) maintain order communication with "Lenta" on the basis of EDI technology. Such suppliers will also benefit from such decision.

The majority of these suppliers work in the so-called WEB-EDI facility, when supplier and network just exchange their data on orders, and transaction documents are made "manually".

50 suppliers are provided with the opportunity of working with Classical EDI and WEB-EDI system, including shipment notification. The system is applied approximately by 40 companies. Such document circulation allows Lenta and its suppliers to receive information not only on the quantity of the shipped goods, but also on logistical places in trucks, which considerably simplifies shipment and acceptance procedures. For example, without application of EDI technology, supplier issues "shipment notice" –a paper document, and goods acceptance network issues “goods acceptance sheet”. Also, at acceptance of the goods, special codes are given to the pallets. Such procedures take time- from one to four hours, depending on the kind of goods and volume of the consignment.

If supplier works with electronic documents, goods acceptance network does not have to issue paper documents, as they are in its system already, because EDI "has transformed" the supplier’s shipment document into the network’s acceptance document. For example, supplier’s document "Shipment notice" automatically "turns" into “goods acceptance sheet” in retail trade system. The only thing is to check it up, print and let the supplier unload the goods. Thanks to this, the time spent by suppliers in the warehouse is reduced 2-3 times. By the results of the survey conducted by Lenta, suppliers using "Shipment notice" have been able to shorten the time of unloading in Central distribution warehouse for 2 hour 44 minutes per each delivery on the average. In some cases, the time saved has made 3,5 hours per one delivery.

Zelenko Igor, Head of Sales Group for ECOD department of "CORUS Consulting ", comments: " It is the vivid example of how introduction of EDI technology may help to reduce costs of document circulation for 30-50 %. It is not a secret that the insufficiently- developed logistics system in Russia hinders to a certain extent the industry’s development in general. The fact that "Lenta" has assumed EDI costs will unconditionally allow the suppliers, especially small and medium businesses, to take the chance of working more effectively in this direction, which will undoubtedly increase the overall performance of logistical services throughout the "manufacturer - retailer" chain.

Tatarinova Olga, commercial service representative of JSC "Kаzumyan" (strong drinks supplier) comments: Lenta actively develops process efficiency. This also concerns every aspect of EDI introduction. We also use this system, and it has allowed us to cut down transportation costs, as we spend less time on acceptance of orders. As we work with leased transport’s hourly rates, the system provides us with more than essential saving. Also, with introduction of EDI, the number of mistakes at order collection has also reduced, since "control margin" has been added.

Vladimir Gorichev, Logistics Director of "Lenta" company, comments: "In today’s economic situation it is vitally important not to forget about investments in improvement of logistical technologies. We understand that it may not be so easy for some suppliers to allocate their budget funds to perfection of their document circulation system. But such investments are critical. Therefore we have decided to assume part of the costs upon ourselves. We have seen that with "Shipment notice" both we and our suppliers can have considerable- double and treble -time saving in goods acceptance. Paying for our outgoing traffic independently, we wish as many of our partners as possible to be involved in EDI, thus increasing the efficiency of cooperation, and reducing delivery terms. In Europe such costs are always of the retailers’ account. The system has proved its efficiency through the years, and promoted faster introduction of electronic data exchange system, which will undoubtedly occur in Russia too".