German retail and wholesale giant Metro has embarked on a major supply chain project to improve service levels and reduce stock by improving data flow with its supply base. After successful pilots with Procter & Gamble hosted by online trading exchange GNX, Metro has launched the largest Collaborative Planning, Forecasting and Replenishment programme in the industry with nine major suppliers and 500 product lines. The new deal means that sales, inventory, service level, forecast and promotional data will flow seamlessly and automatically between Metro and participating suppliers. The system works by alerting supply chain partners when data moves outside pre set boundaries. Because the dataflow is automatic, Metro and its suppliers can exchange more information, more often, said Metro board member Zygmunt Mierdorf. "The automated loading of critical forecast data back into Metro's system has been a significant process improvement, minimising the administrative and data analysis burden on Metro and our partners." {{NEWS }}