GDS at work in the real world

Ravi Mathur
12 May 2005

With pressure on supply chains to deliver more with less, quicker and within shortening lead times, there will be an increasing need for robust consistent and timely data. This is highlighted with the birth of global data synchronisation.

According to an A T Kearney report, globally $40-billion or 3.5 per cent of sales are lost each year due to supply chain information inefficiencies. Thirty per cent of item data in catalogues used by retailers and manufacturers for replenishment of stock is in error and each of those errors costs $60-$80 to address. Companies invest an average of 25 minutes per stock keeping unit (SKU) per year manually cleansing out-of-sync item information. 60 per cent of all invoices generated have errors and each invoice error costs $40-$400 to reconcile.

Inaccurate data results in increased costs, returned shipments, lost sales and ultimately, consumer dissatisfaction. It is therefore imperative that all supply chain partners use common product descriptions and classification, etc, and maintain an effective mechanism for consistency across the supply chain.

Global data synchronisation is a global, internet-based business process through which trading partners align and synchronise master data automatically and in real-time. It helps in exchanging accurate, up-to-date and standards-compliant supply chain information.

There is a simple five-step process to the order in which companies need to approach data synchronisation:

Step 1:Publish
A manufacturer sends a unique 14-digit number called GTIN, that provides a simple way of identifying a product within an electronic system, a unique 13-digit number called a GLN that provides a simple way of identifying a company name within an electronic system and master data information to his home data pool.