Feeding America will work with 1SYNC, a product data management (PDM) provider, to help improve the efficiency of moving donated food and grocery products to Feeding America's nationwide network of food banks.
1SYNC will help Feeding America reduce logistics costs and move food and groceries more quickly from donors to clients in need.
The announcement was made in Las Vegas at the GS1 Connect Conference, where Kevin Lutz, senior vice president of technology for Feeding America, is meeting suppliers with 1SYNC, the conference's Diamond Sponsor.
The Feeding America network secures and distributes more than 3 billion pounds of donated food and grocery products to 37 million Americans annually. The Feeding America network will use 1SYNC data services to access product information from corporate donors, replacing current labor-intensive and low-tech supply-chain and inventory processes.
This will allow Feeding America to share item and price information with companies automatically, eliminating manual processes. This will help Feeding America's supply chain move faster and improve the accuracy of information it has about its inventory. Ultimately, food will get to hungry Americans faster.
"Feeding America receives donations of retail and institutional sized product directly from manufacturers, distributors, retailers and consumers," said Lutz. "Donated product may consist of entire truckloads of product to individual items; distributing donated products in an efficient manner is crucial to emergency food assistance. We will be using 1SYNC's synchronized product catalog data to enhance our supply chain efficiency, improve product information and enhance our food safety, recall and traceability. We are excited to be working with 1SYNC to support our mission of ending hunger in America."
"This is a fantastic development for the Feeding America network and the people who rely on the organization," said Bill Voltmer, president of 1SYNC. "They will now enjoy a major benefit that many of the world's largest retailers and food distributors enjoy – instantaneous access to accurate, trustworthy product data direct from those products' manufacturers and brand owners. We're proud to be a part of this initiative."
For more information: http://www.1sync.org
