Simplot Reaps Significant Savings by Moving to Direct Connections

Benefits of eConnectivity

Simplot Reaps Significant Savings by Moving to Direct Connections

By Tammy Creswell, EDI Delivery Manager, J.R. Simplot Company

J.R. Simplot has gained significant savings since moving its eBusiness reporting of sales and inventory from the older eBusiness technology of using Value Added Networks (VANs), to connecting directly with its manufacturing partners – or through the partner’s third-party vendor, using AgGateway standards.

In the past 3-4 years, Simplot converted 11 agribusiness partners (in crop protection, seed and crop nutrition segments) from EDI X12 messages using VANs to direct connect messages using XML. As a result of these more efficient connections, Simplot has seen real cost savings of approximately $20,000 a year by eliminating the VAN costs, as well as eliminating issues regarding size of documents and hybrids of EDI X12 & XML.

A savings of $20,000 a year may not seem like a lot to some companies, but as you look at those dollars year-after-year, they add up!

Here are a few additional details:

  • Move X12 867/846 to AgGateway PMR/AUI
  • Simplot sends X12 867 sales reporting & X12 846 inventory to the distributor
  • Now sending Product Movement Report (PMR) & Inventory Actual Usage (IAU)
  • Benefits: Eliminated the VAN costs regarding the size of documents, achieved efficiency of direct connection, eliminated the hybrid mix of X12 & XML.

It makes sense to use AgGateway standards and forge direct connections!