Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/508347
6 FEDA News & Views Industry Insights The FEDA Data Interchange An initiative we should all look to support Michael Whiteley, CFSP NAFEM President Vice President Sales and Marketing HATCO Corp. mwhiteley@hatcocorp.com C ollaboration is a great thing. When Brad Pierce became the president of FEDA, he and I agreed that NAFEM and FEDA could collaborate a lot more if we truly focused on helping one another. We also agreed there could be big benefits, which is why NAFEM members have been working hard to support Brad, FEDA and AutoQuotes in their efforts to implement FEDA's new data interchange initiative. This is an important initiative because it has the ability to help all of our mem- bers in so many ways. I recently saw the following quote from Joe Schmitt, FEDA's vice president, in the First Thing newsletter. "The time involved in order expediting is astounding and consumes up to 30 percent of our project coor- dinators and manufacturer reps' time in many cases. Most importantly, this outdated mode of communicating has a significant negative impact on our end- user customers, as we drag them into the channel inefficiencies, from time to time, with bad or no information." FEDA's new data interchange initiative will help address this issue and make life easier for all parties involved. In general, the big benefit is that it has the poten- tial to put all of the data a dealer needs to see in one place, across all manufac- turers. It provides a standard definition for the data and what each data ele- ment means. It allows for this data to be consolidated (like what Auto Quotes is doing) so it can be seen in one place. In other words, FEDA members will not need to visit every manufacturer's web- site to get this information. More specifically, dealers will have faster and more accurate information regarding their order acknowledge- ments, order status and shipping details. This will eliminate an unnecessary burden on factories' customer service departments (fewer calls to CSRs with inquiries about order status/shipping details) and will do away with unproduc- tive double entry of information from the factory's order-entry system into the dealer's purchasing system. The data interchange initiative can also be expanded to include important information such as model numbers, serial numbers and other important busi- ness, service and customer data tracking. So join me in giving kudos to Brad, FEDA and AutoQuotes—and offer your sup- port to this great new initiative! Dealers will have faster and more accurate information regarding their order acknowledgements, order status and shipping details. This will eliminate an unnecessary burden on factories' customer service departments. NAFEM congratulates FEDA President Brad Pierce, one of the recipients of its Doctorate of Foodservice (DFS) award. It is presented at each NAFEM show to allied hospitality asso- ciation leaders in recognition of their contributions to the industry. Honorees were recog- nized at the All-Industry Awards Breakfast during The NAFEM Show in Anaheim, Calif. Pictured are FEDA President Brad Pierce, center, with NAFEM President Michael Whiteley, CFSP (Hatco Corporation), and The NAFEM Show Chair Rob Connelly, CFSP (Henny Penny Corporation).