Product:
US Food Service Implements TIC Solution to help Optimize Operations
Enhanced IT System Increases Delivery Productivity and Inventory Accuracy
The wholesale food industry depends upon a reliable network of distribution centers and transportation operators to ensure the delivery of produce, meat and dry goods to restaurants and hospitality and healthcare facilities in a timely manner across the United States. Strict schedules and deadlines must be adhered to in order to keep client orders fulfilled and to
regulations. When US Food Service wanted to streamline their order delivery processing
maintain food safety
system,
they
turned
to
modernization experts at Transaction Innovation Corporation (TIC).
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US Food Service is the second largest food distributor in the US, with 90% of their business being broadline, or sold to food operators, who then serve the public directly. The company has over 80 distribution centers across the country, where food products are gathered, sorted and warehoused before delivery to clients. Michael Godin, the Application Development Manager for US Food Service's IT department, is charged with warehouse and inventory management, finding, developing and supporting the systems to ensure that all the company's processes flow smoothly.
Michael has been working with TIC for a number of years to support the HP NonStop environment he maintains. A few months ago, he saw a presentation of TIC's Thunder Suite offering that enables seamless information exchange between NonStop and other computer systems via XML, and contacted the company. Michael was looking for a way to streamline communication between their NonStop mainframe and suppliers workstation Windows servers environments, in an effort to automate the delivery process with subsequent inventory and financial adjustments.
At the time, drivers would manually track deliveries, and report back to their distribution center at day's end where data entry was manually completed as well US Food Service wanted drivers to have the ability to scan packages electronically via handheld device, and record results directly into their mainframe, as well as communicating with the vendors servers, eliminating the manual data entry, and thereby greatly increasing productivity and accuracy system-wide.
"Partnering with TIC over the years has proven to be very beneficial for US Food Service," Michael explained. "They helped us with some HTTP-based transaction middleware on a consulting basis some years ago. I recently attended one of their online presentations about their Thunder Suite product and thought it would really help us make a difference in our delivery and inventory management systems."
The initial stages of the new solution are being implemented now, with projected company-wide rollout within 18-24 months. The new system will also be a huge boon to US Food Service's approximately 6,000 drivers who deliver the company's products on a daily basis. Once fully implemented, they'll be able to quickly and easily scan package bar codes with mobile devices, automatically recording delivery information, and electronically updating both their mainframe along with vendor data as well.
"We've enjoyed working with US Food Service over the years," stated Phil Ly, President of TIC. "It is our goal to continue to provide all our clients with the ongoing solutions they need to modernize their NonStop servers and supporting systems. Thunder Suite is just one of the many solutions we bring to bear to accomplish our goal of NonStop Innovation."
"TIC has always met or exceeded our highest expectations," continued Michael. "We could not ask for better service - they've been just excellent to deal with. We look forward to working with them for many years to come!"
About US Food Service:
US Food Service provides food and related products and services to more than 250,000 clients in the restaurant, hospitality, healthcare, education and government markets. The company is one of only two national broadline distributors in the food service industry, employs more than 26,000 associates and offers more than 300,000 products. For more information, please visit: www.usfoodservice.com.
About TIC Software:
TIC Software has been providing solutions for the HP NonStop platform since 1983 - predominantly in the banking, financial services and health care markets. The firm's dedication to creating innovative solutions and providing responsive services has enabled its clients to best leverage modern technology and optimize productivity.