Colemans Food Centre Receives 2007 GS1 Canada Supply Chain Efficiency Award

TORONTO, ON, October 30, 2007 – GS1 Canada, Canada’s expert in collaborative commerce and global supply chain standards, has announced Colemans Food Centre (Colemans) as the winner of the 2007 GS1 Canada Supply Chain Efficiency Award. The winner was revealed at the “Grocery Innovations Canada Dinner with the Philosopher Kings” on Monday, October 29, 2007 at the Toronto Congress Centre.

Established in 1934, Colemans operates 12 corporately owned retail food outlets throughout Newfoundland, including its own warehouse distribution centre. Colemans has combined computer-assisted ordering and space management tools to fuel growth and create an efficient supply chain.

“We are extremely pleased to have received this award,” said Scott Bennett, director, Information Technology, Colemans Food Centre. “Controlling inventory by using leading-edge technology has led to efficiencies in ordering and space management, resulting in a significant increase in our overall productivity.”

As the award winner, Colemans will receive complimentary membership to GS1 Canada for a three-year period, extensive coverage and promotion of their organization and solution through various forms of marketing and communication materials, and an award seal to use in their marketing collateral.

“Colemans Food Centre has demonstrated leadership in supply chain management,” said N. Arthur Smith, CEO, GS1 Canada. “We are proud to present this award to a company that is active in providing and promoting supply chain solutions.”

First announced at Grocery Innovations Canada 2005, Canada’s premier grocery industry exposition and conference, this award is designed to recognize members of the Canadian Federation of Independent Grocers (CFIG) who have successfully introduced a standards-based technology solution within their organization’s supply chain.

iControl-Enterprise is an Internet-based enterprise reporting and communications tool specifically tailored for restaurant operations using the POSitouch point of sale system.

It offers a comprehensive alert system, which will tell you when certain events you have deemed important have occurred. iControl also presents a full set of reports, most of which can be sliced and diced by geographic area, by time periods you select (including 15 minute reports), by menu items and categories (down to each individual menu item), by job department, employee for payroll reports and by inventory category and ingredient for food cost and inventory reports.

iControl-Enterprise has a comprehensive communications tool that includes, a full-fledged intra-company e-email system, a message board to post global messages, a discussion forum where users can post questions or comments and have others reply to, or post procedures. iControl-Enterprise has an events calendar, to track any important event in your organization along with a Task Manager for assigning important tasks that need to be completed.

iControl-Enterprise is the only enterprise solution that allows updating of the POSitouch system. Updating includes adding new menu items, changing prices, changing screens, new inventory worksheets, and updating vendor lists and vendor worksheets. All of this can be completed from the central corporate office.

iControl is very easy to use and the speed of the website is beyond compare.

Read more about iControl on the AM/PM website.

Fujitsu Transaction Solutions Inc. has introduced the TeamPoS 3000 line of point-of-service (POS) terminals and kiosks. The new system extends the benefits of its predecessors (TeamPoS 2000 series) with enhancements that simplify retailers’ point-of-service operations, increase store performance and decrease maintenance time and costs.

The TeamPoS 3000 offers new benefits including improved reliability, enhanced serviceability and support for the latest peripheral technology. With consistent configuration and components across the product family (broad range of terminal and kiosk models), maintenance and integration are simplified.

Primary Enhancements:

- All major components are accessible from the front, reducing maintenance costs

- Meets RoHS and WEEE “green” standards to improve environment

- New peripherals are USB-only for quick replacement

- Controllers are backward compatible with legacy TeamPoS 2000 peripherals

- Additional port capacity with add-on modules

- Serial ATA hard drives

- Optional Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID)

- Optional integrated Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS)

- Optional long-life battery backup

For full details of Fujitsu TeamPOS 3000, visit here

Alberta Food Service Show
Oct. 28-29, 2007
Calgary Roundup Centre

Debuting in Calgary, CRFA’s newest show brings together top suppliers and key buyers looking for new products and new ideas to grow their operations, in the number one growth market for Canada’s restaurant business.

Alberta’s $6 billion foodservice industry is the number one growth market for Canada’s restaurant business. The Alberta Foodservice Show provides a focus on the dynamic provincial industry where leading suppliers showcase their products and services. This show offers foodservice suppliers a face-to-face marketplace to reach industry buyers who want new products and new ideas to grow their operations.

Come visit AM/PM at booth 404 and 406, in the Groupex section.

For more info on the show, visit CRFA here.

Advanced Self-checkout Systems Offer Improved Flexibility, Scalability and Reliability; Ripe for Expanded Use in Non-Grocery Formats.

Fujitsu Transaction Solutions Inc. announced the U-Scan Genesis™ family of advanced self-checkout systems.

U-Scan Genesis offers a wide portfolio of hardware and software technology advances including:

Small Footprint – redesigned to offer the one of the smallest self-checkout footprints available, making it attractive for retail formats that have limited floor space.

Retail-hardened Fujitsu TeamPoS 3000 terminals – designed to withstand the rigors of high-volume checkout environments with easy serviceability.

Two-handed scanning – enables shoppers to scan items one after the other and then place in the bag to further accelerate the check-out process. Shoppers do not have to scan and bag one item before scanning and bagging another.

“Above scanner” bill and coin accepting and dispensing units located together – speeds the transaction process and reduces the chance of customers leaving money behind.

ATM-style “follow me” LED lighting – guides users through the checkout process.

More intuitive customer interfaces support up to 12 languages - makes the checkout process more efficient.

Fujitsu’s new F53 bill dispensing unit – improves dispensing rates while reducing bill jams – the most common self-checkout service and maintenance issue.

Coin hopper or coin canister dispensing units – allows retailer to choose the option that’s best for their environment.

Metrologic scanner/scale – offers accurate first-pass scan rates with 6-sided, 360° scanning.

Read this entire news story here.

NCR Corporation today introduced the NCR RealPOS 80XRT point-of-sale (POS) workstation, designed to extend POS capabilities without slowing mission-critical transaction processing. Featuring next-generation architecture with support for advanced Intel vPro technology, the NCR RealPOS 80XRT delivers industry-leading power, scalability and systems management capabilities to the point of service.

The NCR RealPOS 80XRT delivers industry-leading power and scalability through a range of single-core and dual-core processors, including the new Intel Core™2 Duo processor. In addition, the NCR RealPOS 80XRT features enhanced systems management capabilities using Intel vPro technology to increase uptime and help drive down retailer’s total cost of ownership.

Extreme retail technology extends POS capabilities without slowing mission-critical transaction processing using Intel® vPro™ technology.

Read this entire article here.

Find out more about the NCR RealPOS 80xrt.

New Chip Label Technology Available for Independent Grocers

StoreNext Retail Technologies Pricer® next-generation electronic shelf labels (ESLs) for independent grocers. ESLs includes technologies and capabilities that offer investment protection, better profit potential and ROI for grocers and expanded information available to the consumer.

The infrared technology of the Pricer C² Electronic Shelf Label System eliminates virtually all physical activity associated with changing prices. Using an existing back office system linked to the Pricer system, independent grocers can instantly modify and validate prices by unit, department, or even storewide. The large, easy-to-read high-contrast labels are a convenient, attractive way to get shoppers’ attention on sales or other promotions at the grocery shelf, end of aisle displays and the produce section.

With the Pricer C² system, grocers have the flexibility to implement price changes on literally hundreds or even thousands of items per day, depending on the amount of items in the store. The new system also can be used to display and track information such as stock levels, last order dates, shipment quantities and more. With the click on the new infrared key in the direction of the ESL, the grocer can conveniently access planogram information such as facings – right at the shelf edge.

See full text of StoreNext article here

Independent Grocer enhances shopper service with belted and bagged self-checkout systems

Sorbara’s Shop n’ Save, an independent grocery chain with five stores in the Pittsburgh area, has deployed Fujitsu U-Scan self-checkout systems from StoreNext Retail Technologies LLC.

“Having a combination of bagged and belted self-checkouts made perfect sense for us,” said Jim Sorbara, owner of Sorbara’s Shop n’ Save. “It gives our customers a choice of using self-checkout for large-volume orders, or the ability to get in and out quickly when they only need a few items. We can also have four self-checkout lanes open with just one cashier during high-traffic hours, enabling more employees to assist customers with their needs throughout the store.”

Each installation includes two of the recently-released belted self-checkout units plus two five-bag U-Scan stations. All of these shopper stations are integrated with StoreNext’s ScanMaster™ point-of-sale (POS) software at Sorbara’s.

Visit StoreNext web site here for the full scoop.

On-the-go consumers prefer to handle an increasing number of transactions themselves through self-service devices, and are more likely to do business with companies that make it easier to for them to do so, according to a major new study conducted by BuzzBack Market Research for NCR Corporation

More than three out of four (77 percent) of the 633 U.S. and Canadian consumers polled said they are more likely to do business with organizations that offer self-service, and 92 percent value combining mobile devices - like mobile phones or PDAs - with the Internet and self-service kiosks or ATMs to improve their overall service experience.

“People want more control of their interaction with your business,” said NCR President and Chief Executive Officer Bill Nuti. “Why wait for assistance with transactions they can more quickly and easily do themselves at guaranteed quality? Consumers increasingly expect to be served where and when they choose, and are putting pressure on businesses and government agencies to deliver seamless service through the integration of self-serve devices, including the Internet, mobile devices and multipurpose kiosks.”

The top-three locations where respondents would like to see this type of convenience are in airports (70 percent); malls (65 percent); and grocery stores (55 percent).

Click here to read the full Business Wire article.

The new IBM Anyplace Kiosk 17″ models are designed to enable business innovation in a bigger, bolder way. They can now be used in more ways to heighten the customer experience and expand the usage of self service kiosk solutions across a variety of industries, including retail, travel and transportation, entertainment, and healthcare.

Highlights of the new models include:

At 17 inches, models offer a big screen in an
ultra-compact all-in-one unit
1280 x 1024 resolution offers better clarity and more
detail than smaller IBM models
The bigger touch screen makes it easier for several
people to view at once.
“Clients around the world have asked for a larger kiosk screen and we’ve responded,” said Christopher Wong, Director of Marketing and Strategy for IBM Retail Store Solutions. “I believe you will see these ultra compact kiosks in more and more environments as people use and seek out self service in a variety of consumer-facing environments.”

The IBM Anyplace Kiosk 17″ model is part of IBM’s comprehensive kiosk offerings, which now include three touch screen sizes: 17″, 15″ and 12″. The IBM Anyplace Kiosk combines a 1.3GHz processor, advanced infrared (IR) touch screen display and optional peripherals in a slim, tapered design, offering a cost-effective opportunity to install an informational kiosk virtually “anyplace.” With the capability to show full-screen video as well as high quality sound, the kiosks can deliver a variety of applications including product information, self-ordering in restaurants, unattended check-in for hotel guests, healthcare screening statistics and much more across a variety of segments including retail, travel / tourism, communications, financial, government, transportation, entertainment, healthcare and other sectors.

More info IBM Anyplace Kiosk