Lowes Foods Licenses ADC's InterScale System
TAMPA, Fla. - ADC, Inc., a provider of data communication technology to the supermarket industry, said today it has licensed its InterScale scales management system to Lowes Foods, a 106-store supermarket chain based in Winston-Salem, N.C.
InterScale uses a company's existing network to transmit a future-dated item, price, and label information to scales and barcode label printers in all perishables departments. The InterScale system works with all scales regardless of manufacturer and is relied on by more than 65 supermarket companies and 4,000 individual stores nationwide and in nine countries.
The Lowes Foods system also includes ADC's iScale, a "black box" that manages the in-store scales without the need to implement software on the client's in-store processor (ISP).
InterScale hosts accurate pricing, ingredient, nutri-fact, label format, and graphics data from a single source to supermarket scales and barcode label printers. Production data can be gathered from the scales in the same fashion.
John Keeter, Lowes Foods' technology manager, said the new InterScale system replaces a 10-year-old dialup scales management system. Frequently price changes had to be keyed in manually at each individual store because of the antiquated architecture.
According to Steve Loveridge, ADC president, the ability to change prices accurately and quickly can have a major impact on a supermarket company?s profitability.
"InterScale allows managers to react quickly to market changes by changing prices at scales throughout the system," Loveridge said. "That helps avoid loss of profit caused by prices that are too low or loss of customers because prices are too high."
Sales and special product promotions can also be managed with the InterScale system, he added. Item prices can be lowered at a predetermined time systemwide, then automatically raised once the promotion ends, with in-store personnel never getting involved. When InterScale orders a price change, confirmations are automatically sent back to the host from each scale. If a problem should occur, an e-mail can be automatically dispatched to the help desk.
"Updates are automatic, and that results in a measurable reduction in in-store labor costs, another significant saving," Loveridge said.
InterScale uses a company's existing network to transmit a future-dated item, price, and label information to scales and barcode label printers in all perishables departments. The InterScale system works with all scales regardless of manufacturer and is relied on by more than 65 supermarket companies and 4,000 individual stores nationwide and in nine countries.
The Lowes Foods system also includes ADC's iScale, a "black box" that manages the in-store scales without the need to implement software on the client's in-store processor (ISP).
InterScale hosts accurate pricing, ingredient, nutri-fact, label format, and graphics data from a single source to supermarket scales and barcode label printers. Production data can be gathered from the scales in the same fashion.
John Keeter, Lowes Foods' technology manager, said the new InterScale system replaces a 10-year-old dialup scales management system. Frequently price changes had to be keyed in manually at each individual store because of the antiquated architecture.
According to Steve Loveridge, ADC president, the ability to change prices accurately and quickly can have a major impact on a supermarket company?s profitability.
"InterScale allows managers to react quickly to market changes by changing prices at scales throughout the system," Loveridge said. "That helps avoid loss of profit caused by prices that are too low or loss of customers because prices are too high."
Sales and special product promotions can also be managed with the InterScale system, he added. Item prices can be lowered at a predetermined time systemwide, then automatically raised once the promotion ends, with in-store personnel never getting involved. When InterScale orders a price change, confirmations are automatically sent back to the host from each scale. If a problem should occur, an e-mail can be automatically dispatched to the help desk.
"Updates are automatic, and that results in a measurable reduction in in-store labor costs, another significant saving," Loveridge said.