Co-op Selects Manhattan Associates Integrated Logistics Solution for the Retail Industry

Manhattan Associates, Inc. (NASDAQ: MANH), the global leader in providing supply chain execution (SCE) and optimisation solutions, today announced that the Co-operative Group (CWS) Ltd, the retail-focused co-operative society more familiarly known as the Co-op, has selected Manhattan Associates Integrated Logistics Solution for Retail to help automate and improve its supply chain of the future. The Co-ops selection of Manhattan Associates trading partner management, warehouse management, slot optimisation, labour management, billing management, transportation planning and execution, and performance management solutions, will provide the organisation with the supply chain technologies that will support its future business strategy.

Following an aggressive acquisitions strategy, the food retail business has enjoyed considerable growth in recent years, enabling the Co-op to become the UKs leading convenience retailer with 1,756 stores throughout the UK. At the end of its last financial year it posted a record retail turnover in excess of 3bn. In 2003, the Co-op recognised that to continue this success story and accommodate further growth into the future, it would need to fundamentally change the composition of its existing supply chain infrastructure. The principal drivers in the Co-ops decision to re-engineer its supply chain included a need to improve on-shelf availability and enhance operational effectiveness throughout its source-to-store supply chain network.

After a thorough review of the technologies available, we identified Manhattan Associates as the company whose integrated solutions would provide the Co-op with a robust set of supply chain tools not just for our immediate but for our long-term future, said Trevor Ashworth, general manager of retail logistics at the Co-operative Group. We needed an infrastructure that would create a much more efficient inbound, as well as more flexible and store-friendly outbound supply chain operation. The advanced functionality of Manhattan Associates distribution and transportation solutions, and their ability to help us exploit real-time information on a whole variety of logistics activities within our own organisation, as well as exchange this kind of data with our suppliers, will give us more control over just about everything we do.

Jeff Baum, senior vice president of international operations at Manhattan Associates commented, Were very excited that the Co-op has chosen Manhattan Associates Integrated Logistics Solution to support its future supply chain infrastructure. The Co-op is one of a growing number of companies that are choosing Manhattan Associates integrated suite of supply chain execution and optimisation solutions to complement their internal or back-office enterprise systems. The integrated nature of our source-to-consumption supply chain solutions and their ability to work seamlessly with a companys finance, planning or merchandising applications means our retail customers are better equipped than ever before to improve inventory visibility, operational flexibility and on-shelf availability and to optimise the flow of products across the entire supply chain.