ECR – Productivity gains for consumers’ benefit

GS1 Singapore – SMa’s Centre of Excellence – co-organised the 13th Efficient Consumer Response (ECR) Asia Pacific Conference & Exhibition.

This conference, graced by Minister-of-State for Ministry of National Development & Manpower Mr Tan Chuan-Jin, showcased the latest developments in ECR to help meet the needs of the growing Fast Moving Consumer Goods or FMCG industry in the Asia Pacific. Minister emphasised the importance of ECR as a means to improving productivity through the reduction of wastes and the increased efficiencies in the supply chain.
 

MOS for National Development & Manpower, Mr Tan Chuan-Jin (third from right) launching the ECR Asia Pacific Conference & Exhibition.

 

One of the key features of the conference was the CEOs’ Panel Session. Head honchos of FMCG industry greats like Walmart Asia, Unilever and The Coca-Cola Company spoke about how sustainability remains the heart of all their innovation of their product and how productivity from farm to fork can translate to cost savings to the consumers.

Mr Seah Kian Peng, Chief Executive of supermarket chain NTUC FairPrice, which is also a member of ECR Asia Pacific, said: 'If we're able to increase productivity and become more efficient, we can keep costs down. These cost savings can be passed on to consumers... in the form of better prices.'

Aptly themed as “Touching Lives, Improving Value”, the conference also recognised the top three companies that collaborated on their respective projects to up productivity and hence bring a collective benefit to consumers. The winners were:

•         Gold Award (E-Commerce Innovation): Project presented by Eddie Hu, Emerging Channel General Manager of Unilever and Liu Junling, CEO of Yihaodian.com

•         Silver Award (Consumer Value Creation Through Joint Promotion & Event Forecasting): Project presented by Vijay Nehra, Customer Service Director, Modern Trade & Ganesh Ananthanarayanan, General Manager Modern Trade from Unilever and Uday Varma, Commercial Director & Erika Vida, Supply Chain Director from TESCO.

•         Bronze Award (Logistics Distribution Integration Drives Supply Chain Optimization): Project presented by Denny Yang, Head of Supply Chain Management & Logistics of METRO China, Lina Hu, METRO Customer Team Director of Procter & Gamble and Alfons Van-Woerkom, Customer Service Director Asia, AMET, Russia of Unilever.

Held for the third time in Singapore, the conference allowed some 300 manufacturers and retailers to share their best practices in supply chain operations; foster greater collaboration; and understand emerging trends in the industry.

The two-day conference at the Ritz Carlton hotel was from 16-17 May 2012.