Trade Groups Honor Data Sync Excellence

WASHINGTON -- Food Marketing Institute and Grocery Manufacturers Association handed out Excellence in Data Synchronization Awards at the first Data Synchronization Summit 2006, which was held in Las Vegas earlier this month. The summit, which attracted almost 270 attendees, marked the first time that the trade groups -- together with GS1 US subsidiary 1SYNC, a data pool offering a range of data synchronization solutions -- sponsored an industry-wide event on the topic.

"The objective for these awards was to recognize companies that have displayed leadership and dedication to data synchronization for betterment of the industry and their organizations," noted FMI director, industry relations Pat Walsh in a statement.

The groups presented Excellence Awards, for suppliers synchronizing with 10 retailers or more; Excellence Awards, for retailers synchronizing with over 500 suppliers; and the Rapid Adoption Award, for a trading partner that dramatically adopted data synchronization in 2006.

Explained GMA v.p., supply chain and technology Pamela Stegeman, "The awards were given to companies that have demonstrated leadership qualities in adopting and implementing data synchronization, supporting industry standards, and aggressively gearing teams globally."

Among the Supplier and Retailer Excellence in Data Synchronization Award winners were 3M, Cadbury Schweppes Americas Beverages, Colgate-Palmolive, ConAgra, Campbell Soup, Clorox, Coca-Cola, Dean Foods, Georgia Pacific, Hershey, Heinz, Johnson & Johnson, Kimberly-Clark, Kraft, Nestle, Procter & Gamble, PepsiCo, Sara Lee, J.M. Smucker Co., Unilever, Wegmans, Supervalue, Wal-Mart, and Lowe's.

Lowe's also garnered the Rapid Adoption Award for increasing the number of venders from which it received supplier publications from only 37 at the beginning of 2006 to over 600 today -- a number that's still growing. The company currently has more than 60,000 GTINs published.

The summit's sessions, which included "The New Generation Sales Call," presented by Wegmans and Smucker, and "Synchronization -- The Next Generation of Business Partnering," presented by Accenture, P&G, and Wegmans, focused on such issues as highlighting the best practices in data synchronization, improving data accuracy, and lessons learned.

Noted 1SYNC c.e.o. Bob Noe: "Getting new customers to the data pool is not the main focus anymore. Today data synchronization is about integrating with other processes in an organization and increasing connections. The industry's participation at this event proves that the adoption and implementation of data synchronization is on the rise."
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