ECR Ireland is establishing an ECR Ireland Supply Chain Group. The group will be formed by retailers, suppliers and logistics service providers involved in the warehousing & distribution of consumer goods in Ireland who wish to work collaboratively to advance the standards of supply chain management in Ireland.

Objectives
It is proposed that the inaugural meeting of the Supply Chain Workgroup would determine the Group’s objectives but that the following would be initially considered.

1. Sustainable Distribution
To work collaboratively with an aim of delivering fewer, friendlier miles and promote efficient Sustainable Distribution within the grocery sector in particular and the Irish supply chain in general.

2. OSA
Set out the business case for OSA in Ireland / develop practical, proven solutions to improve OSA / highlight examples of best OSA practice and performance / OSA performance benchmarks / real-time management to reduce out-of-stocks

3. Knowledge & Learning
To further supply chain learning of companies & participating individuals as desired by the group whether this be an appreciation of supply chain technologies in the marketplace or to develop understanding of supply chain management techniques. A benefit of such common interest workgroups is that bespoke syndicated training can be often be commissioned at good value.
Updates from ECR Europe and IGD practices will keep participants abreast of international developments.

4. Benchmarking
Introduce the ECR Supply Chain Scorecard which allows participants to benchmark their own supply chain practices periodically while facilitating national and international comparisons.

When
The Workgroup will be held quarterly at 11 am on the following dates during 2011.
1. Wed 9th March
2. Thurs 14th April
3. Thurs 14th July
4. Thurs 27th October

Where
ECR Ireland, the Nutley Building, Merrion Road, Dublin 4
Who should attend?
Senior Supply Chain, Logistics and Operations executives from retailers, suppliers / manufacturers and 3rd party logistics providers will be welcome to join.
Participation is open to members of ECR Ireland. ECR non-members are most welcome to attend the inaugural meeting if desired.

How do I get involved?
Contact declancarolan@ecrireland.ie or (01)20 80 676
For more information on ECR Ireland click here

Supply Chain Presentations at the upcoming ECR Europe Conference 2011
1. OSA Reloaded - Living and breathing on-shelf availability – how to get breakthrough
2. Collaborative Inventory Optimisation – an end-to-end perspective