April 11, 2003
TO: KROGER VMI SUPPLIERS
RE: KROGER CENTRAL(INDY) AND DELTA (Memphis) DIVISIONS EDI 852 PRODUCT
ACTIVITY DATA TRANSMISSION CHANGE
The information below outlines Kroger’s plans for changing the transmission time of the EDI 852 Product Activity Data for our VMI suppliers. This change is being planned to provide our suppliers with more current inventory status data to improve store service, increase sales, and reduce working capital for you and Kroger.
Currently, Kroger sends EDI 852 Product Activity Data to our VMI suppliers by 6:00am – Eastern Standard Time (six days a week). This product activity data represents yesterday’ s shipments of product from the distribution center to our stores. By changing the time we send the EDI 852 Product Activity Data to 9:00am – Eastern Standard Time (seven days a week) we can send today’ s shipments of product from the distribution center to our stores. This is a significant improvement in our exchange of VMI information that should lead to improved store service, increased sales, and reduction of working capital for both parties.
Our plans are to implement this change for our Central (Indianapolis) and Delta
(Memphis) Division distribution centers effective Tuesday, May 13, 2003. Our
Cincinnati Division distribution center has already been converted to the new
transmission time. We will convert additional Kroger Division distribution centers to the new transmission time at a later date to be determined and will communicate this to you.
We appreciate your support with this important change to our VMI program. By working together we can continue to improve the supply chain and bring additional benefits to both organizations!
BILL WOGENSTAHL DAVE MOREHEAD
Procurement Manager Manager, Procurement Systems
Blue Ash Procurement Center Blue Ash Procurement Center
513-387-1229 513-387-1225
ZA ELEMENT EXPLANATION
ZA01 Activity Codes Source
QA Quantity Available Inventory on Hand
QP Quantity on Order Inventory on Order
QC* Quantity Committed Demand Qty
What is QC?
QC is the quantity that is expected to ship but has not yet been picked(WIN Warehouses) or screened(WMS Warehouses)
Why do some divisions send QC and others don't?
It depends entirely on their cutoff for end of day and when they bring orders in to be reviewed if perishable.
If a div is WIN and has end of day processing and the warehouse has not completed picking and closing the orders SKOPE will send OLP an open demand number QC. If a WMS div and we have orders that have not screened yet by end of day SKOPE will send us an open demand number QC.
In both instances if we send the 852 data after end of day which is almost always true any orders not processed by end of day WIN or WMS will be in the open demand number QC.
Some divisions have a cleaner cutoff than others with no QC others have orders in flux and have QC.
How should I use QC?
QC is store orders expected to be removed from inventory before the next 852 data send. They should be used to reduce BOH to arrive at a true BOH after all picking activity is complete for the day.
Having a quantity in QC or having it in Shipments should not impact a VMI vendors decision on what to order. Shipments is merely what left the warehouse by end of day and QC is what is expected ship today. In some cases shipment data could include orders that will not be processed until later in the day which is no different than having a QC quantity. What is QC?
QC is the quantity that is expected to ship but has not yet been picked(WIN Warehouses) or screened(WMS Warehouses)
Why do some divisions send QC and others don't?
It depends entirely on their cutoff for end of day and when they bring orders in to be reviewed if perishable
If a div is WIN and has end of day processing and the warehouse has not completed picking and closing the orders SKOPE will send OLP an open demand number QC. If a WMS div and we have orders that have not screened yet by end of day SKOPE will send us an open demand number QC.
In both instances if we send the 852 data after end of day which is almost always true any orders not processed by end of day WIN or WMS will be in the open demand number QC.
Some divisions have a cleaner cutoff than others with no QC others have orders in flux and have QC.
How should I use QC?
QC is store orders expected to be removed from inventory before the next 852 data send. They should be used to reduce BOH to arrive at a true BOH after all picking activity is complete for the day.
Having a quantity in QC or having it in Shipments should not impact a VMI vendors decision on what to order. Shipments is merely what left the warehouse by end of day and QC is what is expected ship today. In some cases shipment data could include orders that will not be processed until later in the day which is no different than having a QC quantity.
ZA01 Activity Codes Source
QS Quantity Sold Central & Ralphs only
QW Quantity Withdrawn Daily Sales
QD ADDM Demand Qty Promotional Quantity
QN Planned Quantity Production Status
(to introduce new item (qty>0) or discontinue replenishment (qty=0)
All Quantities are sent in cases “CA” or eaches “EA”
Often times, these values contain a zero quantity. Standards require that we sent at least one ZA for each item. We could always send either QA or QP and then conditionally send the others when Quantity is greater than zero (except for QN), to reduce data volume.