Data Management along the Supply Chain

“Data are the key to success,“ said Sylvia Völker, Head of Supply Chain Management at Maresi Austria GmbH and Klaus Schaffer, Business Development Manager at EDITEL Austria GmbH during their joint presentation about “Data transparency in data transfer – big data management along the supply chain” at this year’s BMÖ EinkaufsForum to a highly interested audience of industry experts. Sylvia Völker, with her many years’ experience in the optimization of supply chain processes at Maresi, emphasized that “a fundamental prerequisite for successful data management is having highly structured data and working with this data.” Maresi as well as many other companies rely on “Electronic Data Interchange” (EDI) as one of the major tools that help achieve structured data.

EDI allows business partners to carry out fully automated business transactions based on structured standards (EDIFACT, among others). This paperless communication process without any media disruption allows for safe and transparent data communication. In addition, especially in the consumer goods industry, EDI helps build larger ranges of goods, achieve shorter lead times and shorter replacement of goods cycles as well as reduced storage needs along the entire supply chain.

“Master data and the declaration of ingredients“ was another important topic whose high relevance Sylvia Völker and Klaus Schaffer emphasized during their presentation. The exchange of master data and ingredients helps comply with the Food Information Regulation regarding the required nutrient information and allows for full traceability. Both experts concluded by saying that “no matter which ‘data volumes’ we are dealing with, successful data management will always be based on ‘structuring – automating – integrating.”