Page 32 - BOSS Today Issue 2

STANDARDISATION

UNSUNG

HEROES

The BOSS Standardisation Committee is doing a great job, but its

work often goes unrecognised

ike many organisations such tend to be accepted. Overall, In order to facilitate the flow Janitorial, Safety Wear is under review.
as ours, BOSS has a problem: though, the programming workload of statistics right across the OP As sales change, dealers in particular
Lcompanies don’t always has fallen dramatically as a result of industry from manufacturer to need to update their product and
appreciate fully what we do. Yet the the new standard. consumer, the Committee grouped historical transactional data to
truth is that members and non- Several years ago there products into different categories. maintain sense in their reporting.
members alike receive many benefits was no common standard Supported by the software houses Most software houses can manage
and efficiency gains as the result of for communicating quantity and the wholesalers, the Industry this but many dealers ignore it – to
BOSS initiatives. electronically, either within the trade Standard Product Categories (ISPC) the detriment of their business.
The Standardisation Committee or with the end user. This often led to has become accepted. It is now a The Committee is involved in
is a case in point. It wouldn’t be chaos. For example, a dealer used to vital tool in managing information, many other areas: standardisation of
going too far to describe the men ordering 1000 labels at a time might trends, and sales across many packaging; environmental data (in
and women who serve on it as change to a supplier who worked sectors, especially dealers and cooperation with the Environment
unsung heroes. The Committee’s in boxes rather than individual distributors. Smart dealers analyse Committee); EANs (bar codes); RFID,
objective is to reduce inefficiencies, labels. The order would be placed their sales by customer, by sales staff, the next generation of electronic
errors and costs in the office supplies and 1,000 boxes would arrive. If the by product sector; identify gaps product identification; standard
business. It does this by identifying supplier didn’t spot the difference, in product sales; reward staff on product description abbreviations,
areas of operation that could be these would be despatched to balanced sales, use the categories a minefield to both consumers and
improved by standardisation – and the customer. The proliferation in customer review reports; and find the trade.
by persuading our industry to adopt of collection notes, credit notes, many other applications. The Committee comprises a cross
those standards. damaged stock and wasted admin Dealers and Dealer Groups section of the OP industry, having
In the past, EDI communication time pumped cost into the supply started to partition their consumer representatives from manufacturers,
was a nightmare; virtually every chain. web offerings according to the distributors, dealers, dealer groups,
major supplier and distributor The Standardisation Committee categories and made use of the software houses and specialist
worked to their own standard. As a worked for 15 months setting a Unit subcategories in on-screen drill consultants. The topics discussed
result, companies incurred costs and of Measure (Packs & Pers) standard downs. Although this was not an may not seem riveting, but their
delays by having to use what were and persuading the industry original intended use of the ISPCs, implications are immense: the
effectively translation houses. BOSS to adopt it. There are still a few the Standardisation Committee decisions taken can take cost out
was determined to help eradicate products that might be improved bears this in mind when reviewing of the supply chain and increase
this sort of practice. but the important thing is that the the standard and adding new efficiency. In today’s testing economic
In terms of XML, BOSS has set units are accepted as standard! categories. climate, that can mean the survival
an office products XML standard – Fortunately for the industry the The ISPC standard is a movable rather than the failure of a business.
OPXML. It did this by taking BASDA, major wholesalers VOW and Spicers feast and needs constant reviewing.
the accepted software standard, and cooperate regularly through the Some products and categories n FOR MORE INFORMATION
adding various fields exclusive to the Standardisation Committee to diminish or die, others develop CONTACT PHILIPPA MORRELL
industry. There are variations in the compare product files and rationalise and grow. At the moment Personal ON 0845 450 1565 or
market place; major players make differences…not many people know Electronic Equipment is expanding EMAIL philippa@
demands, which understandably that! to reflect growth in sales, while in bossfederation.co.uk

32 BOSS TODAY | November/December 2009

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