Get in Sync
By improving product information management, companies can achieve business value today—and be set to gain benefits when RFID automates more processes.
By Marco Ziegler
Oct. 1, 2005—Most manufacturers and retailers participate in a tangled web that supports the flow of data. There is no one database for all product information within a single company—let alone across a supply chain. And there are few controls in place within most companies concerning who can create and/or modify product data.
As a result, manufacturers may have different descriptions and pricing information about the same product, accessed by both internal departments and external suppliers and customers.
Many manufacturers are working on product information management (PIM) and global data synchronization (GDS), to ensure that product data shared within an enterprise and with supply chain partners is accurate and up-to-date. But GDS and PIM are often done in isolation from one another and are therefore ineffective. Thus, billions of dollars in sales are lost every year due to incorrect prices or erroneous item numbers exchanged by trading partners.
Oct. 1, 2005—Most manufacturers and retailers participate in a tangled web that supports the flow of data. There is no one database for all product information within a single company—let alone across a supply chain. And there are few controls in place within most companies concerning who can create and/or modify product data.
As a result, manufacturers may have different descriptions and pricing information about the same product, accessed by both internal departments and external suppliers and customers.
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