Why are Food Lion and Hannaford changing their supply chain processes?
Delhaize America is building an integrated, consumer-driven supply chain to support all seven of its U.S. banners - Food Lion, Hannaford, Sweetbay, Bloom, Bottom Dollar Food, Harveys and Reid’s. When the supply chain project is completed in 2011, all banners will be able to leverage common data, systems and business processes to better service all seven banners. One Delhaize America supply chain shared service will continue to support the individual go-to-market strategies of each U.S. banner.
This project, which we call our "Supply Chain Master Network" project, is a multi-year initiative designed to:

• Integrate the supply chain systems and processes of all Delhaize America operating companies
• Leverage existing and new technology to enable process improvements
• Better utilize the expertise of our operations

How will the Supply Chain Master Network affect vendors and brokers?
As part of our master network, we’re converting many pre-existing systems and processes used by Hannaford or Food Lion to common Delhaize America systems and processes shared by all seven U.S. banners. We’ve also created shared service organizations within Delhaize America to manage item and vendor setup and replenishment transactions with vendors. These changes have been communicated via email along the way of our transformation.

What additional changes can vendors expect through the end of 2010?
All core supply chain systems have been undergoing conversion to the common Delhaize America systems throughout 2010 and into 2011.
Here’s a summary:

• Seven of Delhaize America’s 12 distribution and transportation centers are converting to a common warehouse management between May and September of 2010.
• All EDI documents transitioned to Delhaize America maps from pre-existing Food Lion or Hannaford warehouse mappings on Sept. 1, creating a common Delhaize America interface for electronic data interchange.
• The Vendor Collaboration and Vendor Scorecard tools for Hannaford and Sweetbay transitioned to Retail Solutions (RSi) on Sept. 15, 2010.
• A final cutover to common procurement systems on Oct. 2, 2010 will involve a procurement systems outage. In support of this outage, we are requiring appointments by all carriers via the Red Prairie system for deliveries the week of Sept. 26 and Oct. 3, 2010. Also, on-time deliveries are critical to prevent delays or delivery refusals. Learn more here.

Why are appointments via Red Prairie mandatory the weeks of Sept. 26 and Oct. 3, 2010?
There is a hard break between when POs will be available in the new system vs. the old system on the Oct. 2, 2010 conversion day. During the conversion process, our distribution center teams will only have access to purchase orders with delivery dates of Oct. 2 or earlier through the end of receiving operations on Saturday, Oct. 2. Starting on Oct. 3, 2010, the DCs will only have access to purchase orders with the due dates of Oct. 3, 2010 or later. In other words, a truck arriving on Friday, Oct. 1, 2010 with a purchase order due after Oct. 3, 2010 will be refused or significantly delayed because the DCs cannot access the Purchase Order upon which they need to receive the product.

I’ve heard Delhaize America is also creating an Accounting shared service based on common systems. What impacts will that conversion have on vendors?
Changes in the areas of invoice payment, research and reimbursements will go into effect Nov. 7, 2010, primarily for vendor partners of Hannaford and Sweetbay. Delhaize America accounting shared services will use the accounting systems already in place for Food Lion Family and Bottom Dollar Food.

What do Hannaford and Sweetbay vendors need to do differently as a result of the Nov. 7 accounting conversion?
Delhaize America will no longer be offering the Partner Payment (PPS) website to submit invoices and payback requests after November 7, 2010.  You will have access to the PPS website for one year to view payments made up to November 7, 2010.  To view details for remittances and payments made after November 7, 2010, we are offering a website called e-Portal. 

Please use the following processes and contacts to submit invoices, submit DSD statements and format and view payment history after Nov. 7.

1. Submit hard copy invoices

Mail to:   Accounts Payable
                 P.O. BOX 485
                 Salisbury, NC 28145
Email:       ap@foodlion.com
                 ar@foodlion.com for AR deductions

2. Submit DSD Statements and format

Use this form:  SEGA statement form
Email:              ap@foodlion.com
Mail to:          Accounts Payable
                        PO Box 485
                        Salisbury, NC 28145-0485
Phone:            704-633-8250

3. Access requests to e-Portal

Use this form:  ePortal Website signup form
Email:              apsupport@foodlion.com
Phone:             Nina Wu at 704 633-8250 x3039

1. Please submit requests for these differences as soon as possible using this attached research request form.
   
   
2. Please include the following information with the completed research request form upon submission:

• Copies of the Purchase Order or DSD document with cost extensions along with a copy of your invoice with cost extension. 
• List open invoices on a separate research request from short paid invoices.

3. Please check the following areas for errors before sending in a research request:

• Compare your vendor invoice to the DSD ticket or Purchase Order
  • Does the quantity match?
  • Do the UPC codes match?
• Do item descriptions match?
• Prices
  
  • Has your company’s representative given you updated price information?
  • Have you checked for items on promotion?

Submit the completed form with above information to:

            Use this form:  Billing and Payment Research Request Form  

            Mail to:            Accounts Payable  
                                      P. O. Box 485      
                                      Salisbury, NC 28144

            Overnight:       Accounts Payable                                                                                                 
                                      2110 Executive Drive
                                     Salisbury, NC 28145-0485                                
 
             Email:             ap@foodlion.com

What changes have vendors and brokers already experienced?
Already, the Delhaize America banners have migrated to common vendor and common item numbering systems, providing visibility to supply chain activity throughout our U.S. operations. This conversion to common vendor and item numbering changed some of the ways suppliers correspond with the Food Lion Family and/or Hannaford. A small percentage of our vendors received new vendor numbers. Most vendor numbers stayed the same. We have also changed some of the forms suppliers use.