Bedding Industry Putting EDI to Rest
April 21, 2004
Leading retailers and manufacturers have chosen the FurnishNet electronic document exchange solution to expand supply chain connectivity
FurnishNet, a leading provider of Internet-based supply chain solutions, announced today that 55 bedding retailers and eight of the 10 largest bedding manufacturers are connected through FurnishNet for electronic document exchange. Retailers include iMS - Innovative Mattress Solutions, Sleepy’s, Mattress Giant, Mattress Gallery, and Sleep Country USA. Manufacturers include Simmons, Sealy, Spring Air, Serta, Kingsdown, King Koil, Tempur-pedic, and Leggett & Platt (the industry’s largest component supplier), among others.
EDI has been in existence for over 20 years, yet due to the high initial cost, the complex processes required to implement a network with each trading partner, and the expense of ongoing staffing and maintenance requirements, the industry’s adoption rate has been very low.
“High-speed connections, dedicated resources, and high transactional overhead have traditionally been very prohibitive for small and mid-sized companies wanting to realize the efficiencies of EDI. That’s why, prior to FurnishNet, we had not employed any EDI technologies,” said Brian Wagoner, Director of Information Systems for iMS – Innovative Mattress Solutions. “When we did evaluate several technologies and solutions, none provided the robust functionality and cost savings of FurnishNet.”
High transaction volumes and the need for fast order turnaround in order to minimize inventory investments have motivated bedding retailers to automate their ordering and communication processes with vendors. Since the Internet has made electronic document exchange more affordable and practical to implement, they have been converting to electronic document exchange ( EDE) in record numbers. With the most retailer and manufacturer connections, FurnishNet is the leading provider of EDE services to the home furnishings industry.
“The benefits and overall ROI for iMS from FurnishNet definitely comes from increased employee efficiency and productivity, less employee frustration, and an overall decrease in the cost of doing business,” added Wagoner. “Our merchandising department has decreased the time for POs and Acknowledgements by a minimum of 25%. Additionally, because our manufacturers realize the importance of EDI and the efficiencies they’ve gained since iMS began employing this technology, our relationships, pricing, and lead times have all improved.”
On the other side of the delivery truck, bedding manufacturers have also embraced the benefits of doing business via FurnishNet. According to Wade Vann, Sr. Vice President of IT and CIO for Simmons, “We use EDI but many of our small- and medium-size retailers do not. Our sales reps encourage customers to use EDI and let them know that the FurnishNet option is available to them. Where we are connected with retailers through FurnishNet, orders are processed faster with fewer problems.”
“We are tremendously gratified that this segment of the home furnishings industry is quickly moving to take advantage of our Transaction Management solution,” said Ron Sellers, FurnishNet’s Vice President of Sales.
FurnishNet's solution for Transaction Management speeds the accurate transmission of purchase orders, purchase order acknowledgements, advance ship notices, invoices, and many other transaction types. By integrating e-mail, web applications, electronic data interchange (EDI), and XML into a unique "Any-to-Any" exchange, FurnishNet is able to translate the information into the appropriate format for the immediate electronic flow of information between business partners of any size, running on any corporate system.
About FurnishNet
Over 525 of the nation's leading retailers and manufacturers are using FurnishNet's electronic document exchange solution to streamline their supply chains. For more information, please call 1-800-854-2263, or visit www.furnishnet.com and take the Self-Guided Tour.
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