Herlitz Inventory Management announced Associated Grocers Inc. has selected HIMPACT as its new purchasing system.
Carl Herlitz, President & CEO of Herlitz Inventory Management, stated, “Not only are we thrilled to work with the team at AG, but this is our first time replacing the legacy solution BICEPS. Additionally, we are excited that this is the second ROFDA Organization to license HIMPACT this year and the third member so far.”
To meet its goals for the purchasing process, Associated Grocers, Inc. first started their purchasing selection process by sending out an RFP to several solution providers. The RFP was then used to qualify five providers who were given opportunity to present their respective solutions. In the fall of 2019, Herlitz Inventory Management presented HIMPACT to Associated Grocers, Inc. of Baton Rouge. Prior to the presentation, the Herlitz team loaded key data to the HIMPACT system, which included all of AG’s vendors, items, and daily demand history by customer.
Associated Grocers, Inc.’s selection process then narrowed the providers down to two solutions, of which HIMPACT was still under consideration. In February, Herlitz Inventory Management was invited back for a two day, deep-dive HIMPACT demo. Beforehand, all of AG’s demand data was refreshed so it included information from the week prior. All vendors, items, POs, promotions, and other relevant data were updated, resulting in a system that was 90% of the way to a complete installation. This enabled the Herlitz team to deliver a highly customized presentation in which actual results were shown in real-time. Most notably, it also demonstrated the speed in which HIMPACT can be implemented.
“The HIMPACT solution and the Herlitz team really impressed us,” commented Carl Marks, Chief Administrative Officer at Associated Grocers. “Not only was their expediency with loading our data impressive, but also their openness to listen to our requirements and adapt their solution, even while in the demo phase. These and other considerations were essential to our decision. Another key point was that HIMPACT has a full PO Management module; whereas other solutions do not."
Associated Grocers, Inc. developed a feature scorecard when evaluating various solutions with perishables being weighted heavily. “During our exhaustive research phase, we focused on the unique challenges of buying and forecasting for fresh product lines,” commented David Politz, Senior Vice President & Chief Information Officer. “Carl Herlitz is committed to providing a solution that excels in the perishables area.”
Bill Burke, Director of Information Management added, “Carl Herlitz, his team, and their solution showed that they not only understand the grocery industry, but also that they are eager to listen to our needs and deliver a service that empowers us to overcome our unique challenges.”
The team at Associated Grocers, Inc. is looking forward to all of the innovative features and strong analytical tools HIMPACT has to offer. They have high confidence that HIMPACT will deliver results now that they have seen the software in action. “During our reference call phase, we discovered two different references were already using features that we had requested. We were pleased to learn the popular features were already added to the base system for all customers. Carl impressed us with how quickly his team was able to implement system enhancements,” said Lori Rutland, Corporate Project Director.
