LZ

Kaiser's Uses New Software

Kaiser's Tengelmann (KT) is involved in the rollout of its new merchandise management system. The software is already being used in the fruit and vegetable range in 315 stores and all warehouses, and thus provides more transparency.

More transparency, the focus on the turnover margin and the display of all store, warehouse and headquarter business processes in a single standardized IT system: These aims were to be achieved when the supermarket chain designed the new merchandise management system, called WWS (German abbreviation of merchandise management system). "We will be faster and more efficient", says Dirk Braunschweig, CFO and IT manager at KT. Using WWS, Kaiser's Tengelmann will "optimize the entire product range and supply control."

It is true that WWS is a standard software solution of the IT company Compex. The version 'Compex Commerce 3.45' was, however, customized for the complex supermarket industry in a joint project with Kaiser's Tengelmann. For being directly involved in the development of the software solution, KT had the opportunity to customize the program to its needs. "The software does not define our processes, but vice versa - our target processes define the software", says Lutz Endrikat, head of the KT Organization Department. "This is not an IT project, but a project of our single departments", adds Dieter Beye, head of the KT IT Department.

A crucial advantage of the new merchandise management is the gradual introduction of the automatic MRP on a store basis. The MRP is integrated in the Compex software, and automatically creates order proposals, the store manager can either confirm or change. Once the software will have reached a high forecast quality for a sub-range, it is to be set to automatic MRP. "The system will help us to improve the presence of our products, and thus to increase our turnover potentials", says Braunschweig. The article-based inventory management and the focus on turnover margins instead of supply margins are novelties for the KT stores. The consistent WWS also takes the communication with the stores to the next level. The store managers will receive all important information either via mobile data collecting devices or via PC. Like this, each delivery of goods is notified on an article basis once it is picked. Third-party deliveries are to be notified via the system. A great deal of the "paperwork" is replaced by online communication, says Endrikat. Many processes are defined as workflows in the system and automatically remind the employees of their tasks.

At the same time, the devices allow the employees to spend more time in the sales rooms, for the handheld computers made by Nordic-ID, allow the employees to scan and order articles and to make depreciations, transfers and rejections. The mini-computers also provide information on the store inventory (including the store warehouse), the delivery status as well as on sales and depreciations of the previous four weeks. At the moment, WWS already controls the fruit and vegetable range in 315 stores. The rollout in the other 400 stores is in process. The supermarket in Hofheim am Taunus is the pilot, i.e. the first store that controls all product ranges via WWS. In spring, four further pilot stores are supposed to follow with their entire product ranges. The next step will be the wide rollout. Based on an elaborate plan, the store employees will be trained by KT experts. Ten of the 14 KT sub-stores in four different locations are already using WWS. In 2003, KT already started to analyze all processes. The employees of all functional areas then defined the target processes. These are documented in a process specification with 17,000 pages. After the software has been customized, it was tested on a large scale in the laboratory. One year ago, one warehouse and one store at a time finally went live with their fruit and vegetable ranges. KT prepared the ground for the WWS rollout: All stores were equipped with fast data lines (VPN DSL by Telefonica), WLAN networks for the mobile data collecting devices, and a new version of the cash register software (Wincor Nixdorf Position 6.0). In order to guarantee a complete data collection, the cashiers were asked to work precisely.